The Yonex-Sunrise All Indian Senior Ranking Tournament kicked off on Tuesday in Bangalore as Malvika Bansod and Ritika Thaker were seeded second.

The back-to-back tournament at Bengaluru, which began on January 7 till 12th, and Goa [January 14 to 19] are the selection trials for the Indian team, which will compete in the Asian Badminton Championship in Singapore [February 11-16].

Malvika has been seeded second in the women’s singles while her arch-rival Aakarshi Kashyap of Chhattisgarh will be top-seeded. The duo represents the Airport Authority of India on the domestic circuits.

The young Malvika has been brilliant of late as she has recently risen to the second spot in the BAI rankings with 2347 points. The 18-year old would like to extend her dream run and break into the senior Indian team with yet another excellent display in the twin tournament.

Vaishnavi Bhale, who is a former India number 2, will be the eleventh seeded in the women’s singles. However, her below-average performance affected her rankings a little bit.

Ritika Thaker and Simran Singh, who now occupy the third spot in the women’s doubles with 962 points to their credit, have been given the second billing in their favorite event.

The duo who hails from Nagpur-Thane has recently capped off the previous year [2019] with a maiden U-19 girls doubles title at the Junior National Championship at Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh.

They were brimming with confidence after their big title a few days ago, and the teenage Maharashtra pair would certainly like to continue their excellent run with an eye on the national prize.

The current National Women’s doubles Champion Shikha Gautam and Ashwini Bhat will be the top-seeded.

 
 
Written by: Olumide Akinnifesi