Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal will feature for the first time in US Open (July 19th-23rd) and would be spearheading the Indian challenge in the tournament. The announcement was made by the Badminton Association of India (BAI), on Monday, following a selection committee meeting that was held in Bangalore on Saturday.
The men's singles action will see a strong line-up with the trio of Sameer Verma, Prannoy and Kashyap representing India in California. The mixed doubles category will see the new found pair of Ashwini Ponappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Both the players were paired for the first time in the Sudirman Cup and they dished out jaw dropping performance drawing praise from all quarters. The pair exhibited great chemistry and they will look forward to carry their momentum in US and deliver a title winning performance.
Along with the team for US Open, squads for Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold (June 27th-July 2nd), Canada Open Grand Prix (July 11th-July 16th) and the Junior Asian Badminton Championship that will be played in Jakarta, Indonesia from July 22nd -July 30th were also announced.
World No 33 Sourabh Verma will lead the Indian charge in the men's singles category in Taipei. Apart from Verma, Harsheel Dani and Siril Verma will represent India in the men's singles category, while the women's singles section will be represented by Sri Krishna Priya and Uttejitha Rao.
In Canada Open, India's hopes will be pinned on HS Prannoy and P Kashyap. Both these players have been on and off the court in the past season due to injury. In the women's singles category, World No 45, Rituparna Das. Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy will drive Indian challenge in the men's doubles action, while Poorvisha Ram and J Meghana and the doubles duo of Kuhoo Garg/Nancy B Hazarika will be representing India in the women's doubles category. Siki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra will represent India in the mixed doubles section.