Badminton National Championship | Lakshya Sen will be the star attraction

Lakshya Sen to compete in 76th Inter-State-Inter-Zonal & 85th Senior National Badminton Championships, with AAI & Indian Railways teams as favourites.

Lakshya Sen will be the star attraction in the 76th Inter-State-Inter-Zonal and 85th Senior National badminton championships to be held here from December 18 to 24.

The 22-year-old, however, will compete only in the open events (singles) starting on December 20.

The team events (men & women) beginning on Monday will witness the seven teams (winners of zonal & inter-institutional events plus the host) fighting for the honours.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) appears to be the favourite on paper in both men’s and women’s sections. The team is spearheaded by India No.1 Kartikey Gulshan Kumar and Alap Mishra (No.5) in singles, and with support from doubles specialists, Ravi Krishna and Achutaditya Rao.

The AAI women’s team, too, looks formidable. With Mansi Singh (India No.4) in singles, and India No.1 and No.3 in doubles Priya Devi Konjengbam and Arul Bala, AAI has the wherewithal to bag the crown.

Indian Railways, Central Zone champion in men and women categories, is expected to offer quite a tough challenge in the men’s. category In its ranks, it has India No.6 Mithun Manjunath and Kaushal Dharmamer (India ranked 13) with doubles specialists Hemanagendra Babu and Sai Pratheek for company.

The Karnataka men’s team will be no pushover as it has reigning World Junior Championship bronze medallist Ayush Shetty and solid doubles players Prakash Raj and H.V. Nithin.