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Shillong, February 4
Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal was today ruled out along with Parupalli Kashyap from the South Asian Games due to injury concerns, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) informed.
“We’ve received a communication from BAI stating that the entire badminton squad except for Saina and Kashyap is arriving tomorrow afternoon,” said SAG joint CEO FR Kharkongor. Saina and Kashyap are two of the top badminton athletes for the upcoming Olympics Games in Rio.
Jwala Gutta has been confirmed as the captain of the Indian team by BAI president Akhilesh Das Gupta. Gupta hoped India would clinch all the medals on offer in badminton as they did in the previous edition in Bangladesh in 2010.
Archers aim for gold rush
A strong Indian archery contingent will look to grab all 10 gold medals on offer when they open their campaign with the qualification round here tomorrow. Former world No. 1 and India’s Olympics medal hope Deepika Kumari will lead the country’s charge in the women’s recurve section along with another Olympian in Laishram Bombayla Devi, Madhu Vedwan and Laxmirani Majhi.
Indian archery coach Dharmendra Tiwari feels unless there’s a major hiccup, they are the favourites to win all the 10 gold medals on offer. “The target is to win 10 gold medals. The team is in good form and played in the National Ranking at the same venue earlier in January. Our closest rival would be Bangladesh and Bhutan in the recurve section,” said Tiwari.
