Indian junior shuttlers set to participate in Badminton Junior Asia C'ships in Indonesia

Squad for Badminton Junior Asia Championships (Pic: Twitter/BAI)

Following a rigorous two-week preparatory training camp, an 18-member Indian badminton team will leave for Indonesia on Tuesday to participate in the Junior Asia Championships.

The continental Championships is scheduled to be held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia from July 7 to 16.

During the training camp, which was supported by REC Limited, Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Badminton Association of India (BAI), the players had to undergo an extensive on-court and fitness training.

"This two-week training camp has helped to create a nice build-up ahead of the tournament. I am confident this camp has also helped the team to bond and know each other better," Badminton Association of India (BAI) General Secretary, Sanjay Mishra said in a release.

"We have a formidable squad that has the ability to challenge the best. I wish each of them as well as the coaching staffs, all the best for the Championships."

India is a part of Group C along with Malaysia, Bangladesh and Hong Kong. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stage.

Vivek Kumar Dewangan, Chief Managing Director, REC Limited said, "The target is to groom and nurture our young players right from sub-junior level. We have to identify the talent and provide them world class training facilities and environment so that they can bring medals under Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS)."

In the past, India have won two gold medals in the championship - one silver and a bronze.

Star shuttler PV Sindhu was the first to claim a gold medal in 2012 and Lakshya Sen added to that tally in 2018.

India Squad
Boys singles: Lakshya Sharma, Samarveer, Ayush Shetty and Dhruv Negi.
Girls singles: Rakshitha Sree S, Shriyanshi Valishetty, Tara Shah and Anmol Kharb.
Boys Doubles: Nicholas Nathan Raj/Tushar Suveer and Divyam Arora/Mayank Rana.
Girls Doubles: Radhika Sharma/Tanvi Sharma and Karnika Sree S/ Taneesha Singh.

(With PTI inputs)

Mixed Doubles: Samarveer/Radhika Sharma and Arulmurgan R/ Srinidhi N.