India will not have any players contesting the mixed doubles categories at the Badminton Asia Junior U-17 and U-15 Championships 2017, beginning in Yangon, Myanmar, from October 4 as none feature in the final entry list released by the continental body.

India’s selection committee has picked a 41-member squad for the tournament which includes entries in the men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles categories of both Under-15 and Under-17 age-group events.

However, according to the final entry list published by the Badminton Asia Confederation on their website, there is no Indian name in the mixed doubles categories of both age groups.

Selectors’ call

Badminton Association of India secretary Anup Narang said the decision to not send entries in the mixed doubles categories was taken by the selection committee and the federation had no role to play in it.

“Whichever players the selectors have picked in whichever category, their names have been forwarded,” he said. “It’s a closed-door meeting of the selection committee, which includes former international players. The association does not interfere in it. We are only administrating the game,” added Narang, who is also the convenor of the national selection committee.

A member of the selection committee, who is not authorised to speak to the media on record, said it was difficult to finalise the pairings since mixed doubles events are not conducted in India for these age groups.

“We don’t have mixed doubles events in Under-15 and Under-17 in India,” the official said. “So it was difficult to decide who will play mixed doubles with whom. We were looking to finalise the pairings in the camp and hope that BAC makes an exception.”

Deadline passed

It is not clear how that can happen since the tournament prospectus clearly mentions that no alterations can be done to the list after September 7, 2017.

The reasons are also baffling since India had been picking players for mixed doubles in these age-group categories in international tournaments prior to this on the basis of inputs from the coaches.

In fact, India’s first ever medal at the Asian junior championships had come in the mixed doubles category. The Indian pairing of Prajakta Sawant and Rajkumar had won the Under-16 mixed doubles title in 2007 at Hanoi in Vietnam.

These are India’s final entries for the 2017 edition:

Men’s singles U-15: Ayush Raj Gupta, Siddhanth Gupta, Varun Kapur, Jayant Rana, Vikas Yadav, Punshiba Yengkhom.

Women’s singles U-15: Kriti Bharadwaj, Samiya Imad Farooqui, Gayatri Gopichand Pullela, Sneha Rajwar, Aashi Rawat, Kavipriya Selvam.

Men’s doubles U-15: Ayush Raj Gupta, Shubham Patel, Jayant Rana, Arshad Shaik, Sanjeev Rao Relly, Khajamoinuddin Shaik.

Women’s doubles U-15: Kriti Bharadwaj, Tanya Hemanth, Aditi Bhatt, Aashi Rawat, Treesa Jolly, Mehreen Riza.

Men’s singles U-17: Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, Maisnam Meiraba, Amit Rathore, Dhruv Rawat, Iman Sonowal, Aakash Yadav.

Women’s singles U-17: Malvika Bansod, Unnati Bisht, Samiya Imad Farooqui, Aakarshi Kashyap, Gayatri Gopichand Pullela, Ritika Thaker.

Men’s doubles U-17: Ishaan Bhatnagar, Kush Chugh, Edwin Joy, Arvind V Suresh, Vishnu Vardhan Goud Panjala, Dhruv Rawat.

Women’s doubles U-17: Sahithi Bandi, Varshini Viswanath Sri, Samiya Imad Farooqui, Gayatri Gopichand Pullela, Keyura Mopati, Kavipriya Selvam.