Badminton Asia Team Championship: World No.7 Lakshya Sen and women’s singles regular Malvika Bansod are leading the Indian challenge at the Badminton Asia Team Championship, which started on Tuesday. India’s top women shuttler and double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, veteran Saina Nehwal and premier shuttler Kidambi Srikanth have been rested for the tournament. Follow Badminton Asia Team Championship LIVE updates with InsideSport.IN
The continental event will feature men’s and women’s team events. The participating teams have been divided into two groups. Each team will face each other in a round-robin format in the preliminary round where every match will consist of three singles and two doubles matches. The first team to win three matches wins the tie and earns points.
The top two teams from every group will qualify for the semi-finals.
Men’s schedule
- February 15, Tuesday: India vs Korea – 1:30 PM IST
- February 17, Thursday: India vs Hong Kong – 7:30 AM IST
- February 18, Friday: India vs Indonesia – 7:30 AM IST
Women’s schedule
- February 16, Wednesday: India vs Malaysia – 1:30 PM IST
- February 18, Friday: India vs Japan – 7:30 AM IST
India men’s team will have their task cut out as they are placed alongside defending champions Indonesia, Hong Kong and South Korea in Group A. Meanwhile, Group B features Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Kazakhstan.
Seven teams will be in action in the women’s team event. India are set to face a massive challenge from defending champions Japan and hosts Malaysia in Group Y while Group Z consists of Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and South Korea.
Badminton Asia Team Championship: Lakshya Sen, Malvika Bansod SPEARHEAD Indian challenge in absence of PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth – Check FULL SCHEDULE
India squad:
Men’s Singles: Lakshya Sen, Mithun Manjunath, Kiran George, Raghu Mariswamy
Men’s Doubles: PS Ravikrishna/Sankar Prasad Udayakumar, Amsakarunan Hariharan/Ruban Kumar, Dingku Singh Konthoujam/Manjit Singh Khwairakpam
Women’s Singles: Malvika Bansod, Aakarshi Kashyap, Ashmita Chaliha, Tara Shah
Women’s Doubles: Simran Singhi/Khushi Gupta, Nila Valluvan/Arul Bala Radhakrishnan, Arathi Sara Sunil/Riza Mahreen