India gear up for U-15, U-17 categories in Asian Junior Badminton Championships

Indian shuttlers will look to bag medal for the country as they start their campaign in the upcoming Asia Junior U-17 and U-15 Badminton championships on Wednesday in Surabaya, Indonesia.

In the last championships held in Myanmar in 2018, India returned with one gold medal when Gujarat's Tasnim Mir and Meghana Reddy of Telangana emerged champions in U-15 girls doubles. India looks to bag more medals this time in Indonesia with the Badminton Association of India (BAI) sending a competitive contingent.

"The players were selected on the basis of their performance from the declared selection tournaments held in Guwahati and Mpur in the month of June and July respectively. The morale of the team is very high. I personally went to the airport to see them off on Sunday as the team left for Indonesia," said Ajay Singha, general secretary, BAI.

The five-day competition, which is scheduled from December 11-15, will see India's top junior national shuttlers vying for the top honours.

Maharashtra's Varun Kapur, who is seeded first, will lead Indian attack along with India U-17 number one ranked Pranav Rao Gandham in boys singles while in the U-17 girls singles, number one Uttar Pradesh's Mansi Singh will be among the main attractions.

Tasnim and Tanmoy Boruah of Assam have been given top seeds in the U-15 girls and boys singles draws respectively.

Squads: (U-15)

Boys Singles: Raghav (HAR), Lokesh Reddy (TS), Lakshay Sharma (PNB), Ankit Mondal (WB), Tonmoy Baruah (ASM), Gagan (HAR).

Girls Singles: Tasnim Mir (GUJ), Anupama Upadhyay (HAR), Tara Shah (MAH), Manya Avl (MAH), Neysa Cariappa (KTK), Radhika Sharma (PNB).

Boys Doubles: Lokesh Reddy (TS)/ Ankit Mondal (WB), Gagan (HAR)/ Mayank Rana (HAR), Tonmoy Baruah (ASM)/Lakshay Sharma (PNB).

Girls Doubles: Andrea Kurien (KER)/ Pavithtra Naveen (KER), Ganadha Karthikeyan (TN)/Sa Sikkandar (TN), Anya Chauhan (UTR)/ Ankita Gogoi (ASM).

Mixed doubles: Satwik Reddy (TS)/ Swetaparna Panda (ORI), Samerveer (CHG)/ Rijul Saini (HAR), Shaurya Pant (UTR)/ Anya Chauhan (UTR).

Squads: (U17)

Boys Singles: Pranav Rao Gandham (TS), Shubham Patel (RAJ), Jayant Rana (HAR), Ayush Raj Gupta (UP), Sanjeeva Rao Relly (AP), Varun Kapur (MAH).

Girls singles: Pranavi N (TN), Riya Habbu (MAH), Ishar Baruah (ASM), Mansi Singh (UP), Meghana Reddy (TS), Kriti Bharadwaj (KTK).

Boys Doubles: Hariharan Amsakarunan (TN)/ Ruban Kumar R (TN), Haryan Hooda (HAR)/ Pankaj (HAR), Saikat Banerjee (WB)/Aditya Mondal (WB).

Girls Doubles: Jan Ananthkumar (KTK)/ Tanya Hemanth (KTK), Pranavi N (TN)/ Sarumathi V (TN), Gnanadha Karthikeyan (TN)/Sa Sikkandar (TN).

Mixed Doubles: Ayan Rashid (ASM)/ Tasnim Mir (GUJ), Advit Bhargava (DLI)/ Navdha Manglam (DLI), Arjun Fallary (GOA)/ Lydia Barretto (GOA).

( With inputs from ANI )