BAI announces full-strength squad for tournaments in Thailand

The team consists of top players including PV Sindhu.

With the Olympics qualifications in mind, Badminton Association of India (BAI) announced a strong eight-member squad to participate in the three tournaments taking place in January 2021 in Bangkok, 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 Yonex Thailand Open from January 12-17, followed by Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) and the prestigious HSBC 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 for the first time in the post COVID-19 pandemic time. The former World No. 1 Srikanth had made a comeback when he played in the Denmark Open in October.

BAI General Secretary Ajay Singhania said, “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."

He added, "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 so that players can get the much-needed tournament practice ahead of the Olympic qualifiers."

The team will also be accompanied 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.