Sport - Badminton

Saina Nehwal and Chetan Anand to lead India’s challenge

HYDERABAD: World No. 6 Saina Nehwal in women’s singles and two-time National champion Chetan Anand will lead India’s challenge in the BWF World championship to be held at Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here from August 10 to 16, according to India’s chief National coach Pullela Gopi Chand. He also stated that the tournament will have no prize money.

Speaking to The Hindu on his return from Canada where he took some coaching classes for the Canadian national team, Gopi said that the host will have three entries each in the main draw in the men’s and women’s singles — Chetan Anand, Arvind Bhat and P. Kashyap in the former, and Saina Nehwal, Aditi Mutatkar and Sayali Gokhale in the latter.

This is besides the doubles combinations of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar, K. Tharun Reddy and Arun Vishnu, and Akshay Dewalkar and Jishnu Sanyal in men’s doubles.

The mixed doubles combinations will be Jwala Gutta and V. Diju, and Arun Vishnu and Aparna Balan.

“The National preparatory camp for the World championship will commence from July 20 here (at Gopi Chand-Nimmagadda Badminton Academy). No foreign coaches will be involved. We are confident of putting up a far better show than in the previous editions.

“Obviously, Saina will be the biggest hope but players like Chetan and Arvind also have the potential to upset the best in the business. We will focus on the strengths and weaknesses of each player. The mood is upbeat and they are all determined to prove a point or two in front of home crowds,” Gopi explained.

Gopi, who is also a key member in the organisational committee, pointed out that the event is too prestigious for any top player to pull out. “Even a half-fit player will want to be here. So the organisers and the fans are assured of the presence of almost all the leading lights,” he explained.

Explaining the ticketing aspects, Gopi said that the stadium capacity was about 3900 out of which about 2300 seats would be available for spectators.

“This is because, out of the available seats, 800 are earmarked for the foreigners and the remaining for the Indians,” he pointed out. “There is already a heavy demand for the tickets and about 100 demand drafts have already reached the organisers for season tickets which are priced at Rs. 4,000 and Rs. 6,000,” he said.

K.Ch. Punnaiah Choudhary, joint secretary of the Badminton Association of India, said that a decision on the daily tickets would be taken in the next few days depending on the feasibility. The sale of tickets will commence for the Indians on Monday on the website ticketcounters.com.

V. Radha, VC & MD of Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh, is taking personal interest to make the event a big success. SAAP is spending close to Rs. 30 lakhs for upgradation of the venue to meet the international standards. “There should be no scope for any complaints from either the players or the officials,” is what she has been stressing to her staff while monitoring the related works. The organisers expect about 150 foreign media personnel.

Doordarshan will be telecasting the entire event live.

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