WORLD JUNIORS 2011 – Tai out; Ratchanok, Sindhu, Axelsen in

The Badminton World Federation (BWF) published today the player list for the upcoming World Junior Championships.  Some notable inclusions are defending champions Ratchanok Intanon for Thailand and Viktor Axelsen for Denmark, as well as Dutch Open runner-up P.V. Sindhu for India and Austrian International champion Nozomi Okuhara for Japan.

Ratchanok’s inclusion is the surprise, however, as she is slated to participate in this week’s French Open, meaning that she will either be counting on an early Paris exit, or intends to miss the team competition.  Either way, she will have the biggest debt to pay jet-lag of the group.  Still, Axelsen played in last week’s Denmark Open and Sindhu was in the final of the Swiss International on Sunday so they will all have some adjusting to do.

A notable absence from the home team will be the services of star Tai Tzu Ying.  Tai is to face Tine Baun in Paris on Wednesday and is not on the list released today by the BWF.

The list of talent is decidedly long this year, even with China skipping the event.   Although the above five names are the key performers so far on the senior stage, as usual, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and Korea will be sending tough teams and a whole host of players will be aiming to signal their promise as stars of the future.

Click here to download the complete list of entrants for the 2011 BWF World Junior Championships