Malvika wins first round in national selection trials

Nagpur, April15

City's international shuttler Malvika Bansod won her women's singles first round in the national selection trials that kick off at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi on Friday.

Malvika defeated Anura Prabhudesai 21-9, 21-10 to cross first hurdle. In the second round to be played on Saturday she will take on Unnati Hooda.

Among other city shuttlers, doubles specialist Ritika Thaker and Simran Singhi got walkover in the firsr round. In the mixed doubles event, Ritika and deepl Rambhia will take on Hariharan Amsakaruan-Nardhana VR.

As many as 120 shuttlers are competing in the trials being organised by

The Badminton Association of India’s (BAI to pick the teams for the upcoming Thomas & Uber Cup, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.

The selection trial are being organised in a league-cum-round robin format to decide the positions. The seedings in the trials has been decided on the basis of international rankings followed by national rankings. Combined individual ranking points given by BWF will be considered in doubles for the seedings.19 players are divided into six different groups in the women’s singles trials. Five groups of three players each and one with four. Similar to the men’s singles format, top two players will progress to the second stage and then four groups will be formed as they will fight for positions from 1-12 in a round-robin format.