Meiraba, Lakshya to lead India challenge at junior badminton meets

India's Junior top ranked player Maisnam Meiraba and the Junior World No. 1 Lakshya Sen will lead the countrys challenge in the Badminton Asia Under-17 and Under-15 Championships in Myanmar from October 4 and the BWF World Junior Championships in Jakarta from October 9 respectively, it was announced on Tuesday.

The 64-member strong squad was picked by the national selection committee headed by BAI's secretary Anup Narang during a meeting late last week.

"We are steadily improving in world badminton. This is another opportunity for our young players to extend their supremacy," Narang said.

Manipur's Meiraba will be supported by Dhruv Rawat of Uttarakhand, Akash Yadav of Andhra Pradesh and Iman Sonowal of Assam in the U-17 competition.

All four have been performing consistently at the national level and will be eager to follow in the footsteps of their seniors, who are currently playing in the World Championships in Glasgow.

The country's No. 1 women's player Akarshi Kashyap of Chhattisgarh will spearhead India's charge in the U-17 girls' category.

Akarshi, who recently won the Under-19 title in the All-India Junior Ranking tournament, will have Gayatri Gopichand of Telangana, Unnati Bisht of Uttarakhand and Malvika Bansod of Maharashtra by her side.

Sidhant Gupta of Tamil Nadu, Ayush Raj Gupta of Uttar Pradesh and Punshiba Yengkhom of Manipur will lead the boys' challenge in the Under-15 category. The girls' team will see the likes of S Kavipriya of Punjab, Sneha Rajwar of Uttarakhand and the Telangana duo of Gayatri Gopichand and Samiya Farooqui.

--IANS

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