Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2023: India ready to leave for Indonesia after two-week preparatory camp

PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen are the only two Indians to win a gold medal at the continental meet.

After undergoing a rigorous two-week preparatory training camp at the Tau Devilal Stadium in Panchkula, the 18-member Indian badminton squad are ready to leave for the Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2023 to be held in Indonesia from July 7-16.

The 14 days training camp aimed to bolster the team’s preparations is supported by REC Limited, a Maharatna Company under Ministry of Power along with Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Badminton Association of India (BAI) to strengthen the development program of Indian badminton.

“We at BAI are extremely delighted to welcome REC Limited and Mr Vivek Dewangan to the Badminton family. This two-week training camp has helped to create a nice build-up ahead of the tournament. I am confident this camp has also helped the team to bond and know each other better. We have a formidable squad that has abilities to challenge the best. I wish each of them as well as the coaching staff, all the best for the Championships,” said Badminton Association of India General Secretary, Sanjay Mishra.

REC Limited in various capacities have been supporting and powering excellence. As part of this partnership with REC Limited, BAI aims to boost development and training programmes that will help in achieving excellence while driving grassroots projects and necessary support systems for badminton in India.

Speaking about the partnership and vision, Mr Vivek Kumar Dewangan, Chief Managing Director, REC Limited said, "The target is to groom and nurture our young players right from sub-junior level. We have to identify the talent and provide them world class training facilities and environment so that they can bring medals under Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Our aim is to make sure that the juniors bring medals for the country at the senior level too."

In the group stage, India is pitted in Group C along with Malaysia, Bangladesh and Hong Kong. The top two teams from each group will qualify to the knockout stage. In the past, India has won two gold medals, one silver and a bronze.

PV Sindhu was the first to claim a gold medal in the 2012 Championships, Lakshya Sen added to that tally in 2018. This junior tournament is a stepping stone for shuttlers aspiring to grow in the sport.

India Squad for Badminton Asia Junior Championships 2023:

BOYS SINGLES: LAKSHYA SHARMA, SAMARVEER, AYUSH SHETTY AND DHRUV NEGI.

GIRLS SINGLES: RAKSHITHA SREE S, SHRIYANSHI VALISHETTY, TARA SHAH AND ANMOL KHARB.

BOYS DOUBLES: NICHOLAS NATHAN RAJ/ TUSHAR SUVEER AND DIVYAM ARORA/ MAYANK RANA.

GIRLS DOUBLES: RADHIKA SHARMA/ TANVI SHARMA AND KARNIKA SREE S./ TANEESHA SINGH

MIXED DOUBLES: SAMARVEER/ RADHIKA SHARMA AND ARULMURUGAN R./ SRINIDHI N