Sindhu, Saina named in India team for Asia Mixed team C’ship

TIL Desk Sports/ Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu and London Games bronze winner Saina Nehwal have been named in the Indian squad for the inaugural Asia Mixed Team Championships, scheduled to be held in Vietnam from February 14-19.Sindhu, who clinched the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold at Lucknow last week and Saina, who begun the new season with a win at Malaysia Masters, will be sharing the responsibility in the women’s singles.

Besides, there is also Tanvi Lad and Rituparna Das but they are unlikely to get a chance considering that the event will have only one women’s singles match, one men’s singles, one men’s doubles, one women’s doubles and one mixed doubles. Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold winner Sameer Verma, who has been in rampaging form with a final finish at Hong Kong Super Series last year, will spearhead the Indian challenge in men’s singles.

Swiss Open champion H S Prannoy will also be a vital cog in the team which will not have the services of Kidambi Srikanth, who has decided to skip the event. Rio Olympians — B Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri — world ranked 22nd, and young teenage pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be featuring in men’s doubles event.