Saina to play in US Open, BAI names squad for tournaments

New Delhi: London Olympic bronze medalist Saina Nehwal will participate in next month's US Open for the first time in her career. The 27-year-old, who has won 23 Individual titles across the globe, will look to annexe her first US Open title when she spearheads the Indian challenge at the Grand Prix Gold tournament to be held from July 19th to 23rd.

Badminton Association of India (BAI) today announced the squad for three upcoming international tournaments, including the US Open, after a selection committee meeting that was held in Bangalore on Saturday.

While Saina was named in women's singles, 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 pair of Ashwini Ponappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Both the players had dished out jaw-dropping performance when they were paired for the first time in the Sudirman Cup last month.

The selection committee also declared the names of the players who will participate in Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold (June 27th-July 2nd), Canada Open Grand Prix (July 11th-16th) and Junior Asian Badminton Championship (July 22^nd-July 30th). World No.33 Sourabh Verma will lead the Indian charge in the men's singles category in Taipei, while Harsheel Dani and Siril Verma will also look to prove their mettle and make the most out of the opportunity.

In women's singles, Sri Krishna Priya and Uttejitha Rao will represent India. In Canada Open, India's hopes will be pinned on the experienced duo of World No. 29 H S Prannoy and Commonwealth Games champion P Kashyap. Both these players have been on and

off the court in the past season due to injury and will be eager to get back to winning ways.

In women's singles, World No. 45, Rituparna Das will be the cynosure of all Indian eyes, while Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy will drive Indian challenge in the men's doubles action. Poorvisha Ram and J Meghana and the duo of Kuhoo Garg and 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.

Squad:

Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold (June 27th-July 2nd)

Men's Singles : Sourabh Verma, Harsheel Dani, Siril Verma,

Women's Singles :Sri Krishna Priya, Uttejitha Rao

Canadian Open Grand Prix (July 11th 16th)

Men's Singles: Sameer Verma, H.S Prannoy, P. Kashyap, Women's

Singles: Rituparna Das, Ruthvika Shivani, Sri Krishna Priya,

Sai Uttejitha Rao,

Men's Doubles:Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy,

Women's Doubles: Poorvisha Ram/J Meghana, Kuhoo Garg/Nancy B

Hazarika

Mixed Doubles: Sikki Reddy/Pranaav Jerry Chopra

US Open Grand Prix Gold (July 19th -23rd)

Men's Singles: Sameer Verma, H.S Prannoy, P Kashyap, Women's

Singles ? Rituparna Das, Saina Nehwal, Ruthvika Shivani

Men's Doubles: Manu Attri/Summeth Reddy, Satwiksairaj

Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty

Women's Doubles: Poorvisha Ram/Meghana Jakkampudi, Sikki Reddy/Ashwini Ponnappa

Mixed Doubles: Sikki Reddy/Pranaav Jerry Chopra, Ashiwini Ponnappa/Satwiksairaj Rankireddy

Asian Junior Championships (July 22nd ? 30th)

Boy's Singles: Jaswanth D, Lakshya Sen, Karthikey Gulshan Kumar, Arintap Das, Reserves: Swarnaraj Bora, AryamanTandon

Girl's Singles: Aakarshi Kashyap, Prashi Joshi, Ashmita Chalia,Ira Sharma

(Reserves: Kanika Kanwal),

Boy’s Doubles: Dhruv Kapila/Krishna Prasad, Swarnaraj Bora/Sai Pawan Karri, Krishna Podili/Vishnuvardhan Gaur,

Girl's Doubles: Rituparna Panda /U K Mithula, Ashwini Bhat/Apeksha, Anugraha/Reza Farhath

Mixed Doubles: Tapaswini S Roy/Sanjay Srivastav, Dhruv Kapila/U K Mithula, G. Krishna Prasad/ Partner (decided by coach)

Coaches: Sanjay Mishra, Arvind Bhatt, Anshuman Hazarika, Trupti Murgunde

Manager: Bamang Tago (Arunachal Pradesh) Sukant Das (Sikkim).