Saina Nehwal to play in her first US Open, BAI names squad for tournament

New Delhi: London Olympic bronze medallist 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 annex 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. [caption id=“attachment_3565419” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Saina Nehwal. Getty[/caption] Badminton Association of India (BAI) on Monday 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 (27 June - 2 July), Canada Open Grand Prix (11 - 16 July) and Junior Asian Badminton Championship (22 - 30 July). 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 (27 June - 2 July) Men’s Singles - Sourabh Verma, Harsheel Dani, Siril Verma, Women’s Singles - Sri Krishna Priya, Uttejitha Rao Canadian Open Grand Prix (11-16 July) 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 (19 - 23 July) 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 (22 - 30 July) 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).