TEAM PREVIEW: Crowd favourite Nehwal to anchor formidable Warriors' campaign
AWADHE WARRIORS is one of the six teams participating in the Premier Badminton League (PBL) which starts on 2nd January. Awadhe Warrior were lucky to absorb Saina Nehwal through a lottery system just a day before the auction.
Nehwal who helped Hyderabad Hotshots in IBL clinch the title in the first season will again play a key role for Warriors. She will be leading the team of 10 players.
She would be an inspiring personality for the young ones in the team. The year 2015 was an eventful one for the ace women's shuttler. She won her first ever India Open SS title and then clinched the No. 1 title though, it lasted only for few weeks. She was also nominated for BWF women player of the year award which she considers as the best moment of the year.
Accompanying her in the women's singles category is the 17-year-old Vrushali G. Her major achievements of this year includes winning the singles title at the All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament and was the runner-up at the U-19 Junior Badminton Championship.
There are three men's singles shuttlers: Sai Praneeth, Sourabh Verma and Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Thailand). 23-year-old Praneeth has four International Challenge (tier-IV) titles to his name this year. He also has a record of beating the former international shuttler and one of the best Taufik Hidayat on his home turf in the first round of Indonesia Open in 2013.
Praneeth and Tanongsak will have the upper hand of playing the men's singles matches but it will be interesting to see if Verma is presented with the opportunity to play. The latter ended as the runner-up at the Tata Open International Challenge losing to his sibling (Sameer Verma).
The 25-year-old Thai has the experience of playing in the major tournaments and also has won quite a few titles. He has played against most of the leading Indian shuttlers like Kashyap and Srikanth at major events. Hence, it will be exciting to see how it turns out to be in the league.
The men's and mixed doubles shuttlers comprise of Cai Yun (China), Hendra Gunawan (Indonesia) and Bodin Issara (Thailand). Out of the three, the most experienced shuttler is the 35-year-old Chinese, Cai. The highest ranking for him was No. 1 in 2013. The two- time Olympic medallist is a specialist in the men's doubles category.
The other two are also mainly known for their stint in men's doubles but Gunawan has the experience of playing both and his highest ranking was no. 2 in 2010. It is likely that for mixed doubles contest Gunawan and Christina Pedersen may pair up.
Christina Pedersen (Denmark) is accompanied by 20-year-old Maneesha Kukkapalli in the women's mixed doubles category. The Danish is a mixed doubles specialist who along with her partner Joachim Nielsen have major titles including a Bronze at the London Olympics.
Maneesha has partnered Sindhu who is now the women's singles specialist. At present, she plays with Sanyogita Ghorpade (women's doubles) and Nandagopal (mixed doubles).
In his first ever stint as a coach Anup Sridhar will be undertaking the coaching duty for the Warriors. He is remembered for his historic win against former no. 1 Taufiq Hidayat. Overall the team looks promising, the shuttlers have the potential to upset their opponents but lack in terms of experience.
