Participating Players in the Asian Junior Badminton Championship 2018

This year, the much-awaited Asian Junior Badminton Championship’18 will be held from July 14-22 at Jakarta, Indonesia. A plethora of talented and skilled badminton players in Under-19 Badminton Championship will be seen showcasing their talent and representing India internationally.

Nagpur doubles specialist Ritika Thaker and Simran Sanghi have been selected in the Under-19 Badminton squad. All the top players including 2 singles and 2 doubles were selected in Indonesia for the ABC Tournament. This will be Ritika’s 4^th consecutive year to represent at the much-coveted Asian Badminton Championships for Juniors. Ritika is the first-ever player from the city to have won women’s singles and doubles at the Ivory Coast International.  

In an interview with the media, Ritika confessed that “After the Tirupur triumph we were confident about our selection. It’s a very proud feeling. We will give our best to bring laurels to the country.”

The Jakarta tournament will hold singles and mixed player games which will commence on July 18 and July 14-17 respectively under the guidance of Chief Junior National Coach Sanjay Mishra.

Zohaib Khan Khalil, will be representing Pakistan in the SCG Asia Junior Badminton Championship. Last time, he reached the quarter-finals, however, besides a lot of struggle to find coaching and encouragement for the game, he said “I am aiming to finish in the final or at least [in the] semi-final this time as I have improved my skills.”

Asian Badminton Championship will be spearheaded by former World No. 1 and current no. 10 Lakshya Sen with Vaishnavi Jakka Reddy in the Badminton Asia Junior Championship.

The tournament will witness Lakshaya Sen to be playing with Priyanshu Rajawat, who caught the eyes of the selectors during the recent selecting trial tournaments.

 India’s current no. 1 Amar Farogh alongwith number three Kiran George will be seen playing in the boy’s singles category. However, Vaishnavi Reddy will join hands with Akarshi Kashyap and S. Kavipriya in the girl’s singles category.

Manjit Singh Khwairakpam, Dingku Singh, Vishnuvardhan Goud and Sri Krishna Sai Kumar Podile will lead the Indian charge in the men's doubles category while Simran Singhi, Ritika Thaker, K Preethi and Shristhi Juppudi will be the key players in the girls' doubles event.

Khalil further added that despite of the travel expenses paid by Pakistan Badminton Federation (PBF) alongwith Rs. 400 daily allowance that they give to the players.