Young and talented shuttlers from all over the world will be in action at the World School Badminton Championship at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi from April 20.
Over 200 players, 64 coaches, 32 managers and 80 umpires from 13 countries will be part of the competition. The tournament is organised by the Maharashtra Government, the International School Sport Federation (ISSF) and the Schools Games Federation of India (SGFI).
Contingents from Bulgaria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Georgia, Italy, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and two teams from India, will participate in the six-day event. The event will be played in two categories – selected teams and school teams. Each Schools team comprises of students from the same school, whereas selected teams comprise of players from the same country and from different schools. The matches will be played in a team format with two doubles and three singles matches. Each team comprises of five boys and five girls.
Badminton has been part of the World Schools Championships since 1998. However, it is only for the second time that India is participating in the event. In the last edition, held in Malta in 2016, the Indian team had returned home after failing to win a medal. However, on home turf, they are expected to put up a competitive show.
{{/usCountry}}Badminton has been part of the World Schools Championships since 1998. However, it is only for the second time that India is participating in the event. In the last edition, held in Malta in 2016, the Indian team had returned home after failing to win a medal. However, on home turf, they are expected to put up a competitive show.
{{/usCountry}}The Indian team was selected on their performance based on the school nationals held last month in Andhra Pradesh.
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India ‘A’ team
Boys: Matrepalli Tarun (Telegana), Trika Varun (Haryana), Raikonwar Moni Mugdha (Assam), Paras Mathur (Delhi), Ritupurna Bora (Assam).
Coach: Rohit Singh, Vishal Gajre.
Girls: Chimran Kalita (Assam), Nikita Sanjay, (Haryana), Prerna Alvekar (Maharashtra), Shivpriya Kalprashi (Tamil Nadu), Anjana Kumari (Goa).
Coach: Sonu Singh, Mayank Kapoor.
India ‘B’ team:
Boys: Gautam Kumar (Haryana), Anirudh Singh Kushwaha (Gujarat), Aryaman Goyal (Madhya Pradesh), Jojula Anish Chandra (Telengana), Arjun Rahane (Delhi).
Girls: Varsha Venkatesh (Kerala), Anisha Vashe (Madhya Pradesh), Kokantee Vennlaa (Andhra Pradesh), Tanishka Deshpande (Maharashtra), Alifya Basari (Karnataka).