BWF World Juniors: Second seeds India begin campaign against Nepal, eye home glory

Guwahati, Oct 5 (PTI) Bolstered by a formidable line-up featuring current and former junior world No.1s, second seeds India will begin their campaign against Nepal in the mixed team event of the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships, beginning at the National Centre of Excellence here on Monday.

Returning to India after a 17-year gap, the championships will be held in two phases from October 6 to 19 — the mixed team event for the Suhandinata Cup followed by the individual competition for the Eye-Level Cup.

Led by experienced campaigners Unnati Hooda and Rakshitha Sree, the Indian squad carries high hopes of a historic home performance, having secured the second seeding in the tournament.

India, placed in Group H alongside UAE, Sri Lanka and Nepal, are favourites to top their group in the newly introduced best-of-three relay-scoring format, where each set will be played up to 45 points.

"We have been performing quite well in the junior events over the last few years with BAI giving enough exposure to the players as part of the preparation for the World Junior Championships in Guwahati.

"We are again expecting multiple medals this time around as most of the team members have been training at this very venue for the last year or so," said BAI general secretary Sanjay Mishra in a release.

India, who open against Nepal on Monday before facing Sri Lanka and UAE, could run into former champions South Korea in the knockout stage — a clash that could determine their medal prospects.

Fourteen-time winners China, holders Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and South Korea are expected to be the other strong contenders. Indonesia enter the event as the in-form team, having clinched the Asian Mixed Team title by defeating China in February. India had narrowly lost to Japan in the quarterfinals of that tournament.

India have so far won 11 individual medals at the World Juniors, their best showing coming in Pune 2008 with a gold and a bronze. The current contingent, however, has the potential to surpass that tally.

The country's best medal hopes lie in girls' singles, which features junior world No.1 and Asian U-19 bronze medallist Tanvi Sharma, Vennala K, China Open quarterfinalist Unnati Hooda, and Rakshitha Sree.

"All our four girls singles players are medal contenders and can even win the gold medal. Even our boys can beat any opponent on their day and I am confident that they will excel in home conditions," said India's foreign singles coach Park Tae-Sang.

In boys' singles, India will bank on world No.14 Rounak Chohan and 17-year-old Gnana Dattu TT, while the doubles pair of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Viswa Tej Gobburu — who reached world No.1 earlier this year — will spearhead the hosts' charge in the paired events.

"I am aware that India has never won a medal in the paired events before this but this time we have a formidable line up. These players have been playing regularly on the circuit and that experience of training at this venue should helped them a lot," said Russian doubles specialist coach Ivan Sozonov.

Spectators will have free entry to the event, while the semifinals and finals of both the team and individual events will be broadcast live on DD Sports. PTI ATK AH