Two-time Olympics medallist PV Sindhu, World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth will spearhead 10-member strong Indian Badminton team at the the Commonwealth Games to be held at Birmingham from 28th July to 8th August ,
Apart from PV Sindhu , the four others women shuttlers in the team are Aakarshi Kashyap, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri P, Ashwini Ponappa. Besides Srikanth the men’s team comprises of Lakshya Sen, B Sumeeth Reddy and star doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.
Meanwhile the Badminton Association of India (BAI) announced on Tuesday that it will be conducting a joint practice for the Commonwealth Games-bound Indian shuttlers from July 18 to 24 in Hyderabad.
All the selected players will practice together under the watchful eyes of the coaches before they leave for Birmingham in the wee hours of July 25 to participate in the biggest multi-sporting event of the year.
“It’s very important to bring together all the players ahead of the Commonwealth Games. Such training sessions always help teams to get into the rhythm before any big event and also plan and work on various strategies as a team,” said Sanjay Mishra, Secretary of Badminton Association of India.
In the last CWG held in Gold Coast in 2018, India clinched the maiden mixed team gold medal and finished at the top with six medals—two gold, three silver and one bronze medal. It also included the historic men’s doubles silver by Shetty and Rankireddy.
“We are the defending champions and our objective will be to continue to play with the same zeal and momentum in Birmingham. We have a very strong team and the players have experience and ability. I’m confident they will put on their best show in Birmingham,” Mishra added.