Anand, Popat to lead

Newly-crowned national champions Chetan Anand and Aparna Popat will spearhead India's challenge in the ensuing SAF Games and Thomas and Uber Cup badminton tournaments.

Anand will lead the ten-member men's squad for the Thomas Cup, to be held in Kaula Lumpur from February 17 to 24, while Aparna will lead the eight-member women's team for Uber Cup, Badminton Association of India president V K Verma announced on Thursday.

The BAI selection committee, which met in Hyderabad, also picked an eight-member men's and women's team, also to be led by Anand and Popat respectively, for the SAF Games, scheduled to be held in Islamabad in March.

Teams:

Thomas Cup: Chetan Anand (skipper), Abhinn Shyam Gupta, Arvind Bhat, Sachin Ratti, JBS Vidyadhar, Jaseel P ismail, Rupesh Kumar, Marcose Bristow, V Diju and Sanave Thomas.

Uber Cup: Aparna Popat (skipper), Trupti Murgunde, Manjush Kanwar, BR Meenakshi, G Jwala, Sruti Kurien, Fatima Md. and Saina Nehwal.

Coaches: Vimal Kumar, Madhumita Bisht and Hadi Sugianto.

SAF Games:

Men: Chetan Anand (skipper), Abhinn Shyam Gupta, Utsav Mishra, M Duggal, Rupesh Kumar, Marcose Bristow, JBS  Vidyadhar and Jaseel P Ismail.

Women: Aparna Popat (skipper), Trupti Murgunde, Krishna Deka Raja, Saina Nehwal, G Jwala, Sruthi Kurien, Fatima Md and Aparna Balan.

Coach: Leroy D'Sa.