Lakshya Sen to lead Indian challenge at Badminton Asia Junior C'ship

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 July 14 to 22.

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

The mixed team event will be played from July 14-17, while the individual competition starts from July 18.

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 finalize 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 June 25-July 11 under the guidance of junior national coach Sanjay Mishra in Bangalore. The squad will leave for Jakarta on July 11.