Keeping the Olympics qualifications in mind, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Monday announced a strong eight-member squad to participate in the three tournaments taking place in Bangkok and Thailand.
The team, consisting of Olympic-bound shuttlers PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Ashwini Ponappa, and N Sikki Reddy, will begin their campaign with Thailand Open from January 12-17 followed by Thailand Open (January 19-24) and the BWF World Tour Finals which is rescheduled for January 27-31.
After the coronavirus outbreak disrupted the sporting world resulting in cancellation or postponement of a number of tournaments, this will be the first time that top Indian players, apart from Srikanth, will feature in any international tournament.
The former World No. 1, Srikanth had made a comeback when he played the Denmark Open in October. "We are very happy to see badminton finally getting back on the court. It gives us hope that tournaments can eventually make a steady comeback in near future," BAI General Secretary Ajay Singha said in an official statement. "Most of our players haven't played tournaments in the last 7-8 months however, they have been training to the best of their abilities at the camp. The purpose of sending a full-strength team in these tournaments (is to ensure) so that players can get the much-needed tournament practice ahead of the Olympic qualifiers," he added.
The team will also be accomped by singles foreign coaches Agus Dwi Santoso and Park Tae Sang and doubles coach Dwi Kristiawan alongside support staff consisting of Kiran Challagundla, Johnson, Evangelina Baddam, and M Srikanth.
( With inputs from ANI )
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