The mixed team championships kick off the event in Santander, Spain. The Badminton World Federation Junior Mixed Team Championships 2022 begin on Monday, October 17, in Santander, Spain, with individual events beginning on October 24.
The squad selected by the Badminton Association of India includes current world No. 3 Anupama Upadhya and Odisha Open Super 100 champion Unnati Hooda.
India, as a seeded team, will begin their campaign in Group B with matches against Iceland and China on Monday. The other teams in the group are Australia and Slovenia. While China is not ranked high enough in junior events to be seeded, as the most successful team in the event’s history, they would be the favorites to advance from the group. Only the top-ranked team from each of the eight groups advances to the knockout round, which determines the top eight teams.
Men’s and women’s singles, men’s and women’s doubles, and mixed doubles are among the five matches played to decide the tie.
At the Mixed Team Championships, the teams compete for the Suhandinata Cup. Individual events will feature five individual trophies known as the Eye-Level Cups.
The Indian team for the prestigious tournament, which will be held two years after the Covid pandemic, was chosen through a selection process that included two All India Ranking tournaments and a Raipur selection trial.
Hooda had won the girls singles trials, with S Rakshita Sree and Upadhayaya coming in second and third.
In the boy’s singles category, India’s best bet will be the in-form Bharat Raghav, who won both the All Indian ranking titles in Goa and Panchkula, with Ayush Shetty rounding out the line up.
India has won one gold, three silver, and five bronze medals in the competition thus far, with reigning Commonwealth Games gold medalist Lakshya Sen being the last Indian to stand on the podium in 2018, receiving the boys singles bronze medal. Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to have won the junior world title. HS Prannoy and B Sai Praneeth are two other medalists.
“With new players emerging, the team has been selected after an extensive selection trials,” said Badminton Association of India secretary Sanjay Mishra when the squad was announced.
“We are confident that we will compete for medals in both the mixed team and individual events,” he added.
India will also field two doubles teams in each of the men’s, women’s, and mixed doubles categories. The men’s doubles will be handled by a new combination of Arsh Mohammad and Abhinav Thakur, as well as Nicholas Nathan Raj and Tushar Suveer. In women’s doubles, All India ranking meet winners in Goa, Ishrani Baruah and Devika Sihag, will be joined by Shreya Balaji and Srinidhi N from Tamil Nadu, who recently helped their state win the South Zone U19 mixed team title.
India’s squad is as follows:
Bharat Raghav and Ayush Shetty are two male singles.
Unnati Hooda, Rakshitha Sree S, and Anupama Upadhya are three female singles.
Arsh Mohammad/Abhinav Thakur, Nicholas Nathan Raj/Tushar Suveer, Boys’ Doubles
Isharani Baruah/Devika Sihag, Shreya Balaji/Srinidhi N, Isharani Baruah/Srinidhi N, Isharani Baruah/Srinidhi
Samarveer/Radhika Sharma, Vighnesh Thathineni/Sri Sai Sravya Lakkamraju, Mixed Doubles
The Indian team
Bharat Raghav S, Ayush Shetty, Arsh Mohammad, Abhinav Thakur, Nicholas Nathan Raj, Tushar Suveer, Samarveer, and Vighnesh Thathineni are the male shuttlers.
