Indian badminton team set for BWF World Junior Championships

India's junior (U19) badminton squad will be in action at the BWF World Junior Championships 2022 starting from October 17 in Spain.

Anupama Upadhyaya (junior world rank 3) and Unnati Hooda (junior world rank 5) are the top-ranked players in the girls' section in the Indian team. Ayush Shetty (junior world rank 44) is the highest ranked player from the boys' section.

The Indian contingent left for Spain on Friday. A two-week long tournament, returning after two years, the BWF World Junior Championships will kick off on October 17 with the mixed team event in Santander.

India have been drawn in Group B in the Mixed Team Championships alongside Slovenia, Australia, China and Iceland.

India Squad

Boys: Bharat Raghav S, Ayush Shetty, Arsh Mohammad, Abhinav Thakur, Nicholas Nathan Raj, Tushar Suveer, Samarveer, Vighnesh Thathineni

Girls: Unnati Hooda, Rakshitha Sree S, Anupama Upadhyaya, Isharani Baruah, Devika Sihag, Shreya Balaji, Srinidhi N., Radhika Sharma

Tasnim Mir, Anwesha Gowda and Sankar Muthusamy are some of the top junior players who have not been included in the Indian squad for this tournament. Tasnim Mir, the world number 1 in the junior women's section at the moment, suffered an injury this week. She was knocked out in the Round of 16 stage at the India International Challenge 2022 due to the injury.

India have won 9 medals - 1 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze - in the history of the BWF World Junior Championships. They are 9th on the all-time medal tally list, which is dominated by China.

The only gold won by an Indian at this tournament was Saina Nehwal in 2008.

Aparna Popat, Gurusaidutt, Sai Praneeth, HS Prannoy, Sameer Verma, Siril Verma and Lakshya Sen are the others to have won individual medals for India at this competition.