MUMBAI, JAN 8: The Badminton Association of India announced the names of 10 players for the Thomas Cup and nine for Uber Cup badminton preliminaries, to be held in New Delhi from February 13-20.Two pairs of doubles players, Marcose Bristow-Vijaydeep Singh and Vincent Lobo-Jaseel P Ismail, will leave for Malaysia on January 15 for a fortnight's training. The rest will attend camps at Bangalore and Delhi respectively from January 15-February 3 and from February 3.The team, selected on the basis of performances at Guwahati, Bangalore and Mumbai Grand Prix tournaments, has Jose George and Ajit Wijetilak forming a possible third doubles combination with the latter playing a part in the singles as well whenever required.Promising junior Chetan Anand, who made his transition to the senior level with ease, is a reserve, giving way to Sidharth Jain, who will team up with P Gopi Chand, Nikhil Kanetkar and Abhinn Shyam Gupta for singles.Anand's turn will come, promised BAI secretary SS Mani at the NSCI here,after the five selectors deliberated over his selection for over an hour. International experience finally influenced their decision as Wijetilak and Jain made up the two places up for grabs after the other three selected themselves.G Jwala and Shruti Kurien make their way into the women's squad for the Uber Cup to form the second doubles combination with Madhumita Bisht and Archana Deodhar. Three teams from the New Delhi event will qualify for the final stage to be held at Kuala Lumpur.TeamsThomas Cup: P Gopi Chand, Abhinn Shyam Gupta, Nikhil Kanetkar, Sidharth Jain, Jaseel P Ismail, Vincent Lobo, Marcose Bristo, Vijaydeep Singh, Ajit Wijetilak, Jose George.Uber Cup: Aparna Popat, B R Meenakshi, Manjush Kanwar, P V V Laxmi, C H Deepthi, Madhumita Bisht, Archana Deodhar, G Jwala, Shruti Kurien.Reserve: Chetan Anand. Coaches: S M Arif, Uday Pawar, Leroy D'Sa, Vimal Kumar.Thomas Cup draw: Group A Thailand, Iran, Nepal, Myanmar. Group B: Australia, Zambia,Singapore. Group C: Hong Kong, Mauritius, Jamaica, Sri Lanka. Group X: Chinese Taipei, Winner of Group C, Winner of Group A. Group Y: Korea, Japan, India, Winner of Group B.Uber Cup: India, Zambia, Sri Lanka. Group B: Australia, Pakistan, Singapore. Group X: Indonesia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Winner of Group B. Group Y: Japan, Korea, Thailand, Winner of Group A.
