Olympic Silver & Bronze medalists PV Sindhu & Saina Nehwal alongwith World No. 5 Kidambi Srikanth to be seen in action representing team India
Top stars like Lee Chong Wei, Son Wan Ho, Akane Yamaguchi, Nozomi Okhuhara to play in the annual continental championship
The annual continental event to serve as the qualifiers for Thomas & Uber Cup 2018
DSPORT, a premium sports TV channel by Discovery Communications India, has acquired the exclusive India broadcast rights for the upcoming Badminton Asia Team Championships 2018.The annual continental event in its 38th edition will feature Asian badminton powerhouses, competing as a team rather than individuals.
The 38th edition will see a total of 245 elite Asian shuttlers battling it out from 6th – 11th February at Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia. This event also acts as the qualifications from Asia for the prestigious Thomas & Uber Cup 2018. The Badminton Asia Team Championships will be broadcasted LIVE and Exclusive on DSPORT between 9th -11th February 2018.
This would be the first time when DSPORT would be broadcasting an elite badminton championship, with Indian Supertsars participating as a team.19 top Indian shuttlers would be representing Team India at the elite team championship. Some of the most notable names include London Olympic Bronze and Rio Olympic Silver Medalists Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu alongwith World No.5 KidambiSrikanth,World No. 11 HS Prannoy, World No 18 B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponappa.
Commenting on the acquisition T.S.Panesar, Head of DSPORT Business said, “ We are happy to secure the India Broadcast Rights for the prestigious Asia Badminton Team Championships. This is our first major acquisition in the sport of Badminton and we are glad to bring to the Indian fans LIVE action from Malaysia with top Indian shutller’s participating in the event. With this we are proud to live upto our ambition of becoming a truly diverse sports broadcasting channel with programming that suits a wide array of sports fans.”
Other notable names who will be seen in action during the annual continental team event would include World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia, World. No. 4 Son Wan Ho from Korea and World No 8 Shi Yuqi from China, World No 9 NG Kalong from Hong Kong, World No 10 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the Men’s discipline, while the Women’s pack would see participation from Japaneses World No 2 Akane Yamaguchi and World No 7 Nozomi Okuhara Chinese World No 8 & 9 Chen Yufei and He Bingjiao and World No 6 Sung Ji Hyun from Korea.
The Men’s Doubles Category will see participation from some notable names that include World No 1 Indoanesian pair of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo & Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, World No 5 Japanese duo of Takeshi Kamura & Keigo Sonoda World No 7 & 8 Chinese Taipei pairs of Chen Hung Ling & Wang Chi-Lin and Lee Jhe-Huei & Lee Yang. World No 2,4 & 6 Japanese pairs of Ayaka Takahashi & Misaki Matsutomo, Yuki Fukushima & Sayaka Hirota and Shiho Tanaka & Koharu Yonemoto, World No 7 Greysia Polli & Apriyani Rahayu from Indonesia will comprise of the top seeded women’s doubles teams at the tournament. Some other notable women’s doubles players who would be seen playing sans their regular partners would include Korean World No. 5 Chang Ye Na and World No 9 Shin Seung Chang.
The teams participating in the championship will be comprising of both men’s and women’s event. Each team will be required to play ties comprising of three men’s singles and two men’s doubles in men’s category and likewise in women’s category.Each team shall not nominate less than four (4) players and not more than ten (10) players.