The national coaching camp for shuttlers preparing for the forthcoming Thomas and Uber Cup will be held at the Gopi Chand Academy here from September 7 to 27.
The camp will be for 26 players, including Saina Nehwal and her husband-cum-coach P. Kashyap, who was not in the list of eight Olympic probables called for a camp from Aug. 7.
India’s leading doubles pair of R. Satwiksairaj, who tested COVID-19 positive recently, and Chirag Shetty, Sourabh Verma, Sameer Verma and H.S. Prannoy will not be attending the camp for different reasons.
World champion P.V. Sindhu had already pulled out of the championship for personal reasons.
In the wake of the nervous experience when doubles shuttler N. Sikki Reddy and physio Ch. Kiran first tested positive and then negative in the second COVID-19 test, all the campers will have to stay at the academy to ensure complete safety of the players because of the pandemic.
The players will have the services of seven coaches, four support staff and three sparring partners.
Each and every member of the camp will have to undergo mandatory RT-PCR test for COVID-19 at their respective hometowns and should test negative before heading for the academy in Hyderabad.
The list of players:
Men: B. Sai Praneeth, K. Srikanth, P. Kashyap, Lakshya Sen, Subhankar Dey, Manu Attri, Sumeeth Reddy, Dhruv Kapila, M.R. Arjun, G. Krishna Prasad, Siril Verma, Ansal Yadav and Kartikey Gulshan Kumar.
Women: Saina Nehwal, Aakarshi Kashyap, Malvika Bansode, Ashmita Chaliha, Ira Sharma, Ashwini Ponnappa, N. Sikki Reddy, Sanjana Santosh, Pooja Dandoo, Poorvisha Ram, J. Meghna, Ashwini Bhatt and Sikha Gautam.
