The Hindu : Sport : Gopi Chand to lead Indian challenge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005

Sport

Sport

Gopi Chand to lead Indian challenge

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, FEB. 15. The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has named a 10-member squad for the German Open and for the All England championship.

Former All England champion P. Gopi Chand, who has slipped in the world rankings (now at 151), will spearhead the Indian challenge. A notable omission from the team is former National champion and current National runner-up Abhinn Shyam Gupta, who has a World ranking of 44. But then he has not been performing up to expectations on the domestic circuit, except reaching the National final.

After competing in the European circuit, the Indian shuttlers will be off to Beijing in May for the Sudirman Cup (world team championship), which is essentially a doubles team tournament.

Gopi Chand has been left out of the Sudirman Cup squad on the grounds that one is not too sure about his current form. BAI will hold a national camp for the All England championship at the KBA Stadium here from February 20 and the national camp for the Sudirman Cup is planned at Jalandhar from April 10.

The teams:

German Open (Feb 28 to March 5) and All England Championship (March 8 to 13): Men's singles: Chetan Anand, P. Gopi Chand, Arvind Bhat and Anup Sridhar. Doubles: Sanave Thomas & Rupesh Kumar.

Women's singles: Aparna Popat and Trupti Murgunde. Doubles: Jwala Gutta and Shruthi Kurien. Coach: U. Vimal Kumar.

Sudirman Cup (May 10 to 15): Men's singles: Arvind Bhat and Anup Sridhar. Doubles: Jaseel P. Ismail & V. Diju; Sanave Thomas & Rupesh Kumar.

Women's singles: Aparna Popat and Trupti Murgunde. Doubles: Jwala Gutta & Shruthi Kurien. Reserves: Chetan Anand (men); B.R. Meenakshi and Saina Nehwal (women). Coaches: Hadi Sugiyanto, Madhumita Bisht and Bhaskar Babu.

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