Lakshya Sen, Vaishnavi Jakka Reddy to lead India's charge in Asia Junior Championship badminton

New Delhi: Up and coming players Lakshya Sen and Vaishnavi Jakka Reddy will spearhead the Indian challenge in the Badminton Asia Junior Championship to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from 14-22 July. [caption id=“attachment_4229799” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Lakshya Sen Twitter: @lakshya_sen[/caption] The tournament will be played in mixed team format and individual championship. The mixed team event will be played from 14-17 July, while the individual competition starts from 18 July. The tournament will see former junior world number one and current number 10 Sen share responsibilities with young Priyanshu Rajawat, who caught the eyes of the selectors during the recent selection trial tournament. India number one Amar Farogh and number three Kiran George will compete in the boys’ singles category, while current world number four Vaishnavi will be joined by India number one Akarshi Kashyap and S Kavipriya in the girls’ singles competition. Manjit Singh Khwairakpam, Dingku Singh, Vishnuvardhan Goud and Sri Krishna Sai Kumar Podile will lead the Indian charge in the men’s doubles category while Simran Singhi, Ritika Thaker, K Preethi and Shristhi Juppudi will be the key players in the girls’ doubles event. All the shuttlers who featured in the top four of the recently concluded U-19 selection trial were picked for Indonesia. The selection committee took into consideration performance of the players over the year as well the way the players have performed in the selection trial matches to finalise the names. The squad will also have Edwin Joy, Orijit Chaliha, B Sai Rohit and Akash Chandran in the boys and Nafeesah Sara Siraj, Medha Shashidharan and Dipti Kuity in the girls team. The shuttlers will undergo a preparatory camp from 25 June-11 July under the guidance of junior national coach Sanjay Mishra in Bengaluru. The squad will leave for Jakarta on 11 July.