Discovery's DSPORT to broadcast Badminton Asia Team C'ships

New Delhi [India], Feb.6 (ANI): The Badminton Asia Team Championships 2018 that began today and will conclude on February 11, will be broadcast by DSport, the sports channel of Discovery Communications India.

The annual continental event in its 38th edition will feature Asian badminton powerhouses, competing as a team rather than individuals.

This edition will see a total of 245 elite Asian shuttlers battling it out at Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia.

This event also acts as the qualifications from Asia for the prestigious Thomas and Uber Cup 2018.

The Badminton Asia Team Championships will be broadcast live between February 9 and 11.

From India, London Olympic Bronze and Rio Olympic Silver Medalists Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, World No.5 Kidambi Srikanth, World No. 11 H S Prannoy, World No 18 B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponappa will take part.

T.S. Panesar, Head of DSPORT Business, said, "We are happy to secure the India Broadcast Rights for the prestigious Asia Badminton Team Championships. This is our first major acquisition in the sport of Badminton and we are glad to bring to the Indian fans LIVE action from Malaysia with top Indian shutllers' participating in the event. With this we are proud to live up to our ambition of becoming a truly diverse sports broadcasting channel with programming that suits a wide array of sports fans."

Other notable names who will be seen in action during the annual continental team event would include World No. 2 Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia, World. No. 4 Son Wan Ho from Korea and World No 8 Shi Yuqi from China, World No 9 NG Kalong from Hong Kong, World No 10 Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the Men's discipline, while the Women's pack would see participation from Japaneses World No 2 Akane Yamaguchi and World No 7 Nozomi Okuhara Chinese World No 8 & 9 Chen Yufei and He Bingjiao and World No 6 Sung Ji Hyun from Korea.

The Men's Doubles Category will see participation from some notable names that include World No 1 Indonesian pair of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon, World No 5 Japanese duo of Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda World No 7 and 8 Chinese Taipei pairs of Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin and Lee Jhe-Huei and Lee Yang. World No 2,4 & 6 Japanese pairs of Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo, Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota and Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto, World No 7 Greysia Polli and Apriyani Rahayu from Indonesia will comprise of the top seeded women's doubles teams at the tournament. Some other notable women's doubles players who would be seen playing sans their regular partners would include Korean World No. 5 Chang Ye Na and World No 9 Shin Seung Chang.

The teams participating in the championship will be comprising of both men's and women's event. Each team will be required to play ties comprising of three men's singles and two men's doubles in men's category and likewise in women's category. Each team shall not nominate less than four (4) players and not more than ten (10) players.

Japan, Korea, Thailand, China, India, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong China, Maldives, Vietnam, Nepal, Singapore and Philippines are some of the participating nations. (ANI)