New Delhi, Aug 17 : Gnana Dattu and Tanvi Reddy Andluri will lead the country's challenge in the U-17 singles category in the Badminton Asia Championship for under-15 and under-17 boys and girls.

The Badminton Association of India will be sending a squad of 39 players to the Badminton Asia (U-15/U-17) Junior Championships to be played in Chengdu (China) from August 20-25, to win multiple medals and also create a strong foundation of a strong squad keeping in mind that India will host the 2025 World Junior Championship.

In the last edition of the BAC championship which was held in the same city, India had bagged one gold, one silver and one bronze with Bornil Changmai standing atop the u-15 boy's singles podium.

The Indian contingent left for Chengdu on Saturday after an extensive preparatory camp at the National Centre of Excellence in Guwahati under the watchful eyes of the Indian and foreign coaches.

Speaking about the team's chances, BAI secretary Sanjay Mishra said, 'India is fielding one of the biggest squads for the Badminton Asia Championships and I am confident that we can win sizable medals. The players and the coaches have put in a lot of work in the camp and our players are now ready to make a mark in the competition.'

The Indian contingent, which was picked after extensive selection trials in Bengaluru, will be led by Gnana Dattu and Tanvi Reddy Andluri in the u-17 category, while Shyam Bindiganavile and Tanvi Patri will be the top singles players in the u-15 category.

Shaina Manimuthu will be the only player to be involved in two events as she will be playing in the girls' u-17 singles and girls' doubles with Aikya Shetty.

India squad:

U-15:

Boys' Singles: Shyam Bindiganavile, Shashank Vanamala, Prangan Choudhary, Pushkar Sai

Girls' Singles: Tanvi Patri, Shaina Manimuthu, Gatha Suryawanshi, Hithaishree L Rajaiah

Boys' Doubles: Rahul Kadapakula/Vedant Pahwa, Shashwat Chaudhary/Shaurya Chaudhary

Girls' Doubles: Shaina Manimuthu/Aikya Shetty, Nidhi Atmaram/Selvasamruddhi Selvaprbhu

Mixed Doubles: Sahid Ibrahim Peer/Dheeshitha Singha Gopinath Singh, Kaveyugan KA/Anushka Jennifer AS

U-17:

Boys' Singles: Gnana Dattu TT, Prateek Koundilya, Dev Ruparelia, Abhinav Garg

Girls' Singles: Tanvi Reddy Andluri, Adarshini Shri NB, Parul Choudhary, Durga Isha Kandrapu

Boys' Doubles: Bjron Jaison/Aathish Sreenivas PV, Abhinav Kandari/Yogansh Singh

Girls' Doubles: Annaya Bisht/Angel Punera, Diya Bheemaiah B/Baruni Parshwal

Mixed Doubles: Showrya Kiran J/Keerthy Manchala, Manish Reddy/Deepak Raj Aditi.

/IANS