NAGPUR: Even as Badminton Association of India (BAI) is busy tackling Prajakta Sawant issue and grand launch of Indian Badminton League (IBL), country's best young shuttlers will vie for top honours in the 37th Junior National Badminton Championships which will get underway at Imphal on Saturday.
The nine-day annual tournament becomes quite significant particularly after not-so-good performance by the Indians in the recently concluded World Junior Championships in Japan. The BAI junior selection committee will be watching the action at the Manipur Sports Council Indoor Stadium keenly to find out the talent for the future.
Qualifying rounds will be held on the first two days before the various states battle it out for the team championships on the next two days. The main draw of the individual events will be played from November 14 to 18.
Formidable Andhra Pradesh start as firm favourites for the Shafi Qureshi Cup thanks to the presence of current Indian team players Ruthvika Shivani, K Manisha and J Meghana. Maharashtra, who had lost to Kerala in the semifinals last year at Jaipur, can pose a serious challenge to Andhra. Maharashtra have two very good singles players in the form of Rasika Raje and Karishma Wadkar. The other members of the team - Swatika Butey, Vaishnavi Bhale (both Nagpur) and Mumbai's Riya Pillai - have been doing well this season.
Maharashtra coach Mangirish Palekar is optimistic about his team's chances. "We should reach finals. I am banking on Rasika and Karishma in the singles. Riya also provides us lot of options. Besides Andhra, last year's finalists Kerala and Air India will be our main opponents," said Palekar.
The competition is even stiffer for Nagarg Cup (Boys U-19) as there are at least four teams which can win the title. Defending champions Air India, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and West Zone winners Chhattisgarh have the potential to reign supreme. Both the U-19 singles champions of the last year - Sameer Verma and Tanvi Lad - will not be playing at Imphal. While Madhya Pradesh's Sameer is still to recover from back injury, Mumbai girl Tanvi has crossed the age limit.
The absence of defending champions has thrown the competition wide open. Harsheel Dani, Pratul Joshi, Rohit Yadav, Aditya Joshi and Srinagar Senior Nationals hero Shreyansh Jaiswal have good chance to clinch U-19 title.
In the girls singles, Ruthvika Shivani, Reshma Karthik, Rasika Raje and Karishma Wadkar can hope to bag the crown in the absence of Tanvi and PV Sindhu.
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