Lakshya Sen, Malvika Bansod to lead India in Badminton Asia Team Championships in Malaysia

Indian shuttlers Lakshya Sen and Malvika Bansod will lead the Indian men's and women's teams, respectively, at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Shah Alam, Malaysia, from February 15-20.

In the recently concluded India Open Super 500, Lakshya Sen won the title while Malvika Bansod was recently seen in action at the Syed Modi International Super 300 championship where she finished as a runner-up. 

Lakshya Sen who is the World Championship bronze medallist outwitted his counterpart World champion, Loh Kean Yew, 24-22, 21-17 in a 54-minute encounter. As for Malvika Bansod, she fell to PV Sindhu in a 21-13, 21-16 loss. 

Senior players like PV Sindhu & Saina Nehwal not part of team

The Badminton Association of India has announced a younger squad for the continental team championship and is understood to have given a lot of weightage and importance to the performances by players in the two recent All India Ranking tournaments played in Chennai and Hyderabad.

“We have been considering domestic tournaments for selection for a while now and selecting players in the top-25 world ranking directly. But with most senior players recovering from COVID and injury, it is a good opportunity for us to give the bench strength opportunities to make their mark in the tournament,” BAI secretary Ajay Singhania said in a statement.

Several senior players like PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth are not part of the team

In the last Asia cup badminton tournament in Manila, Philippines, the men’s team managed to win the bronze medal while the women’s team was withdrawn as most players were not willing to travel back then when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak. Team India is sending four singles players in both categories (Men's and women's) while both Men's and Women's Doubles will see three pairs each. 

Badminton Asia Team Championships: Team India

Men Singles: Lakshya Sen, Mithun Manjunath, Kiran George, Raghu M

Men Doubles: PS Ravi Krishna and UdayKumar ShankarPrasad, Amsakarunan Hariharan and Ruban Kumar, Dingku Singh Konthoujam and Manjit Singh Khwairakpam

Women Singles: Malvika Bansod, Aakarshi Kashyap, Ashmita Chaliha, Tara Shah

Women Doubles: Simran Singhi and Khushi Gupta, V Nila and Arubala, Aarthi Sara Sunil and Riza Mahreen

(Image: AP/@Senlakshya/Instagram)