The Hindu : Chetan to lead SAF Games squad

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 23, 2004

Sport

Sport - Badminton

Chetan to lead SAF Games squad

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD, JAN. 22. The newly-crowned National champion, Chetan Anand, will lead India in the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games to be held in Islamabad in April. This was disclosed by B.K.Varma, president of the Badminton Association of India.

Mr. Varma, who was briefing the press after the annual general body meeting of the BAI today, said the selection committee had also finalised the teams for the Thomas and Uber Cup preliminaries to be held in Kuala Lumpur (February 17-24).

The BAI president said India would propose (since he is also vice-president of ABC in charge of South Asia) during the SAF Games hosting of an annual SAARC championship.

"We have decided in principle to see that the three coaches - Vimal, Sachadeva and Sugianto - work with the desired coordination as part of our preparations for the next edition of the Commonwealh Games," he said.

Mr. Varma said BAI had decided to cut down on players' foreign trips on experts' advice, who felt there should be only six tournaments for each player. "BAI is not averse to taking care of the expenditure of any talented youngster," he said.

On the international calendar, the BAI chief said Hyderabad would host the 2004 Asian Satellite championship later this year and also the 2005 edition of the IBF Grand Prix.

Similarly, BAI is keen on an Indo-Pakistan `Test' series and sometime later a triangular series involving Sri Lanka also.

BAI has decided to conduct a five-event circuit for juniors and seniors with each event carrying a prize money of Rs. 2 lakhs and Rs. 4 lakhs each, besides the Syed Modi tournament with Rs. 8 lakhs at stake.

The teams:

For SAF Games:

Men: Chetan Anand (Capt.), Abhinn Shyam Gupta, Utsav Mishra, M. Duggal, Rupesh Kumar, Marcose Bristow, J.B.S. Vidhyadhar and Jaseel P. Ismail.

Women: Aparna Popat, Trupti Murgunde, Krishna Deka Raja, Saina Nehawal, Gutta Jawal, Shruthi Kurien, M. Fatima and Aparna Balan. Coach: Leroy D'Souza.

For Thomas & the Uber Cups:

Men: Chetan Anand, Abhinn Shyam Gupta, Arvind Bhatt, Sachin Ratti, J.B.S. Vidhyadhar, Jaseel P. Ismail, Rupesh Kumar, Marcose Bristow, V. Diju and Sanave Thomas. Women: Aparna Popat, Trupti Murgunde, Manjusha Kanwar, B.R. Meenakshi, Jwala Gutta, Shruthi Kurien, M. Fatima and Saina Nehawal. Coaches: Vimal Kumar, Madhumita Bisht & Hadi Sugianto.

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