Badminton, Asian Games: Here’s how selection trials will work for completing India’s squad

World Championships 2021 medallists Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen will be tested by a challenging next rung of players at the selection trials for the upcoming Asian Games to be held at the Jwala Gutta Academy in Hyderabad from May 4-7, 2023.

The Badminton Association of India has been conducting selection trials for major team championships since last year, while a few top-ranked players got selected based on BWF World Rankings (top 20 as of a cutoff date).

Current India No 1 in singles HS Prannoy, double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu along with men’s doubles pairing Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, women’s doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand are the direct entries for the squad.

For the remaining spots in the squad, the selection trials will come into play.

Saina Nehwal, two-time Asiad bronze medallist, is not participating due to injury issues.

A total of 20 players (10 men and 10 women) are to be selected for the Asian Games squad ultimately. The trials would be used to select rest of the 14 spots available.

Per the announcement by BAI on Wednesday here are the slots available:

Men’s singles: 3

Women’s singles: 3

Men’s doubles: 1 pair

Women’s doubles: 1 pair

Mixed doubles: 2 pairs

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