Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna in Asian Games squad; Yuki Bhambri excluded

ByPress Release, SportsCafe Editor

06/04/2018

Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna have been given the nod to travel to Indonesia for the 18th Asian Games as Yuki Bhambri is excused on account of his involvement in the US Open. Ankita Raina and Karman Kaur Thandi are the two players who lead the list of Indian female participants.

After missing out on the previous two editions of the Asian games tournament, Indian veteran and one of the most successful doubles’ and mixed doubles’ player - Leander Paes was called up once again to the Indian squad for the 18th edition of the Asian Games. Fellow doubles’ specialist, Rohan Bopanna was also called up once more to represent India at the Games to be held in Palembang, Jakarta in Indonesia. AITA have also called up the likes of Sumit Nagal, Divij Sharan, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran in light of Yuki Bhambri's exclusion.

Amongst the women we have Fed Cup team members Ankita Raina and Kamran Kaur Thandi in the squad to travel to Indonesia. To add to that, AITA have also called up players like Rutuja Bhosale, Pranjala Yadlapalli, Riya Bhatia and Prarthana Thombare as back up for the Raina and Thandi. A meeting of the senior selection committee was held at the R K Khanna stadium in New Delhi was held today after which the subsequent list was given out. India’s top ranked singles player, Yuki Bhambri was excused from the tournament as he stands to be in the main draw of the US Open.

Zeeshan Ali is named as the head coach of the men’s team while Ankita Bhambri is named as the coach of the women’s team. Gaurang Shukla and Anand Kumar will be the accompanying the team as physios for the men’s team and women’s team respectively.

The Asian Games tournament is slated to begin on August 19 and will go on till August 25 later this year.

Asian Games Squad:

Men's team: Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Sumit Nagal, Divij Sharan, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Prajnesh Gunneswaran

Women's team: Ankita Raina. Kamran Kaur Thandi, Rutuja Bhosale, Pranjala Yadlapalli, Riya Bhatia and Prarthana Thombare