Sports Ministry shortlists 40 shuttlers for 2010 CWG

New Delhi, Sep 16 (UNI) Ace shuttlers Anup Sridhar, Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal are among the 40 badminton players chosen by the sports ministry to provide state-of-the-art training and exposure both at domestic and international levels with the objective of maximising the medal tally in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Under the Scheme for ''Preparation of Indian Teams for Commonwealth Games, 2010,'' the Steering Committee has approved the names of 35 Badminton players so far, for their inclusion in the 'Core Group' of sportspersons.

Training is to be provided to 20 players each in men and women category. The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has been asked to furnish more names to fill all the slots.

In addition, eight Indian coaches, including national coach Pullela Gopichand and two foreign coaches have also been indentified in consultation with the BAI.

The Steering Committee has also directed the BAI to submit without delay the names of supporting personnel such as Sports Analyst, Exercise Physiologist, Physiotherapist, Masseur and Masseuse as per the Scheme for its approval.

As required under the Scheme, the Steering Committee in consultation with Sports Authority of India (SAI) has also approved the Annual Calendar of Training and Competitions (ACTC) prepared by the BAI for imparting training of 305 days in a year for the period from August 2008 to March 31, 2009.

SAI Centres at Lucknow, Bangalore and Gandhi Nagar have been selected for imparting training to the Core Group of sportspersons.

To enhance transparency and placing all information relating to the Scheme in public domain, the Committee has also urged the BAI, to develop a comprehensive website. The Committee directed the BAI to start the website within two months and communicate to it.

The Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports M S Gill directed the Steering Committee to complete the process of identification of the Core Group and supporting personnel in respect of all disciplines in consultation with the state federations so as to fully operationalise the Scheme at the earliest.

The following names of sportspersons were approved for their inclusion in the Core Group: Men: Anup Sridhar, Chetan Anand, Arvind Bhatt, Anand Pawar, P Kashyap, Ajay Jayaram, Guru Sai Dutt, Abhimanyu Singh, Saurabh Verma, Aditya Prakash, Sanave Thomas, Rupesh Kumar, V Diju, Akshay Dewalkar, Alwyn Francis, Shankar Goan, Arun Vishnu, K Tarun, Pranav Chopda.

Women: Saina Nehwal, Aditi Mutatkar, Trupati Murgunde, Gyatri Vartak, Arundhati Pantawane, Sikki Reddy, P C Thulasi, Prajakta Sawant, Jwala Gutta, Shruti Kurien, Ashiwini Ponnappa, Nitya Sosale, P Jyotsna, Anjali Kalita, Shweta Kelkar, Pradnya Gadre.

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