PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal among others all set to participate for first time since COVID-19 outbreak

With Olympic qualifiers in mind, the Badminton Association of India announced a strong eight-member team on Monday who will compete in the three upcoming tournaments, scheduled for January 2021.

The team consists PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Ashwini Ponappa, N Sikki Reddy, and Chirag Shetty will begin their campaign with the Yonex Thailand Open from January 12 to 17.

This will be followed by the Toyota Thailand Open from January 19 to 24 and the prestigious HSBC BWF World Tour Finals, which will be held from January 27 to 31.

The COVID-19 outbreak that occurred in March disrupted the sports world, causing many games to be cancelled or postponed. This will be the first time that top Indian players except Srikanth have participated in any international competition.

Former World Number One, Srikanth had already made his comeback at the Denmark Open in October this year.

The team will also be accompanied by singles foreign coaches Agus Dwi Santoso, and Park Tae Sang, doubles coach Dwi Kristiawan and support staff including Kiran Challagundla, Johnson, Evangelina Baddam and M Srikanth.