Nagpur: Almost all the top Indian shuttlers, including Kidambi Srikanth, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal, will be seen in action in the seven-day Senior National Badminton Championships which begin here Thursday.
No doubt, Srikanth will be the favourite to win the title in the men’s singles while in the women’s category it may well turn out to be a Saina-Sindhu battle. Rarely do the two play against each other and fans will keep their fingers crossed hoping that the two meet.
Other top Indian shuttlers who will be taking part in the championships include HS Prannoy, Ajay Jayaram, B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, Sourabh Verma, Parupalli Kashyap and Danial Farid in men’s singles and Rituparna Das and Anura Prabhudesai in women’s singles.
Over 400 players from 29 states and two union territories will take part in the event.
Srikanth, Prannoy, Jayaram, Sai Praneeth, the Verma brothers (Sourabh and Sameer), Kashyap and Farid have been given direct entry to the pre-quarterfinals. Similarly, Sindhu, Saina, Rituparna and Anura will start the tournament from the last 16 stage.
In men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, Manu Attri/B Sumith Reddy, MR Arjun/Ramchandran Shlok and the top pair from the latest BAI rankings have been handed a direct entry to the quarterfinals. Same is the case for women’s doubles pairs of Ashwini Ponnappa/ N Sikki Reddy, Sanjana Santosh/Sara Sunil Arathi and Jakkampudi Meghana/S Ram Poorvisha.
The total prize money for the event is Rs 60 lakh – the highest ever in the history of the Senior Nationals.
The winner in men’s and women’s singles as well as the doubles pairs will receive Rs 2,00,000 each while the runners-up will get Rs 1,50,000 each.
Srikanth nominated
New Delhi: Shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, whose stature has grown immensely following a phenomenal 2017, was Wednesday nominated for the prestigious Padma Shri award by former sports minister Vijay Goel.
The present parliamentary affairs minister, wrote a letter to home minister Rajnath Singh, recommending Srikanth for the country’s fourth highest civilian award. However, the deadline for Padma nominations had closed on the midnight of September 15.
“In this scenario, it is imperative to motivate the young sportsman by acknowledging his contribution to this sport in India,” Goel wrote.
“In the spirit of reflecting the aspiration of people of India, I recommend name of Shri Kidambi Srikanth for the Padma Shri award,” the letter added.
