Asia Junior C'ship: Lakshaya Sen, Akarshi Kashyap to lead Indian challenge

Junior World No. 9 Lakshya Sen and World No.11 Akarshi Kashyap will lead the Indian squads at the upcoming edition of the Badminton Asia Junior Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The tournament will be played in a mixed team format and individual format.

The tournament, which is in its 21st year of existence, will see Sen sharing responsibilities with young Priyanshu Rajawat--who caught the eyes of the selectors during the pre-selection trial tournament held in Tirupur early last month.

The young and talented doubles shuttlers including Manjit Singh Khwairakpam, Dingku Singh, Vishnuvardhan Goud and Sri Krishna Sai Kumar Podile will drive Indian charge in the men's doubles category while Simran Singhi, Ritika Thaker, K. Preethi and Shristhi Juppudi will lead the challenge in the girls' doubles event.

The squad, which underwent rigorous 15-day training in Bengaluru, will also feature players like 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.

India's best results so far at the Junior Continental Championship have been in 2011, when India won a Team Bronze medal.

Meanwhile, PV Sindhu and Sameer Verma have won an individual silver medal in 2012 and 2011 respectively, while Pranav Jerry Chopra and Prajakta Sawant teamed up to win a bronze medal in the mixed doubles category in 2009.

The mixed team event will be played from July 14 to July 17, while the individual competition will start from July 18 onwards.

The Junior Badminton Championship squads are as follows:

Boys Team- Lakshaya Sen, Priyanshu Rajawat, Kiran George, Aman Farogh Sanjay, K. Manjit Singh, K. Dingku Sing, Sai Krishna Sai Kumar Podile, P. Vishnuvardhan Goud, Edwin Joy, Orijit Chaliha, B. Sai Rohit, Akash Chandran

Girls Team- Aakarshi Kashyap, S. kavipriya, Dipti Kuity, Simran Singhi, Ritika Thaker, K. Preethi, Shrishti Juppudi, Nafeesah Sara Siraj, Medha Shashidharan.