Shuttlers all set for All-England

With the cut clear, badminton players are gearing up for the prestigious AllEngland Open, to be played in Birmingham from March 7 to 12.

The team should be all beans when they step on to the Barclaycard Arena with renewed vigour. However, Saina Nehwal went the farthest last year at the popular championships. The Hyderabadi lost the quarterfinal to Tai Tzu Ying.

P. V. Sindhu had gone down in the first round to Porntip Buranaprasertsuk before recharging herself to win silver at the Olympic Games in Rio five months later.

The players will be under the charge of Pullela Gopichand who heads a battery of coaches designated for the event. Badminton Association of Telangana vice-president V. Chamundeswaranath, will manage team affairs as Badminton Association of India observer.

THE SQUAD Men: Srikanth Kidambi, H.S Prannoy, Sameer Verma, Sourabh Verma, Manu Atri, Sumeeth Reddy, Pranaav Jerry Chopra. Women: Saina Nehwal, P.

Sindhu, Sikki Reddy, V. Ashwini Ponnappa.

Coaches: Pullela Gopichand (chief coach), Mulyo Handoyo (foreign coach), Tan Kim Her (foreign coach), Vimal Kumar (coach), N. Anil Kumar (coach). Support Staff: Md Maqdoom Ahmed (sports analyst), Johnson (physiotherapist), C. Kiran (physiotherapist). BAI observer: V. Chamunderswaranath (vice president, Badminton Association of Telanagana)