Saina Nehwal to play in US Open, BAI names squad for upcoming tournaments

London Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal will participate in next month’s US Open for the first time in her career. The 27-year-old, who has won 23 Individual titles across the globe, will look to claim her first US Open title when she spearheads the Indian challenge at the Grand Prix Gold tournament to be held from July 19th to 23rd.

Badminton Association of India (BAI) today announced the squad for three upcoming international tournaments, including the US Open, after a selection committee meeting that was held in Bangalore on Saturday. While Saina was named in women’s singles, the men’s singles action will see a strong line-up with the trio of Sameer Verma, Prannoy and Kashyap representing India in California.

The mixed doubles category will see the new pair of Ashwini Ponappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Both the players had dished out jaw-dropping performance when they were paired for the first time in the Sudirman Cup last month.

The selection committee also declared the names of the players who will participate in Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold (June 27th-July 2nd), Canada Open Grand Prix (July 11th-16th) and Junior Asian Badminton Championship (July 22nd July 30th).

World No.33 Sourabh Verma will lead the Indian charge in the …read more