Saina to lead India in Asian junior badminton

Teenage sensation Saina Nehwal will lead a 12-member junior team at the Asian Junior badminton championships in Kuala Lampur from July 3-9.

Saina, seeded second in the tournament, has a bye in the first round.

The team is scheduled to leave for Malaysia later tonight.

The 16-year-old girl from Hyderabad reached the pre-quarter-finals in the previous edition but with a recent Grand Prix title -- Philippines Open -- under her belt, the world no 42 is looking to make a mark on the junior circuit.

World No 39 and top seed in the tournament, Korea's Jang Soo Young and third seed Xing Aiying of Singapore could pose a challenge for the Indian starlet.

"Our team is quite good and we are expecting to win a few titles there. Saina has a good chance in the singles as she s the second seed," coach Sanjiv Sachdeva said.

"In the team competition we will face Indonesia in the first round, They are a good side but we can beat them," he added.

Team:

Boys: Jishnu Sanyal, Akshay Dewalkar, Srujan Nandaluri, Arun Nandaluri, Ram C Vijay, Arun Vishnu

Girls: Saina Nehwal, Ruth Misa, Ashwini Ponnappa, Sosali Nitya, Gayatri Vartak, Nischita.

Coach: Sanjiv Sachdeva

Manager: S Balachandran.