Gopichand, Aparna get top billing

World number six Pullela Gopichand and Aparna Popat start as favourites in the men's and women's singles respectively in the National badminton championships, at Jaipur, from February 1.

The country's No. 1 players are top seeded in the men's and women's sections for the seven-day NTPC-sponsored event.

Despite having less national ranking points, Gopichand has been seeded number one following his stupendous world ranking, tournament chief referee M A Shetty told reporters.

Sachin Ratti, who is shade ahead of Gopichand in the national rankings -- as the champion shuttler had missed many domestic tournaments -- was seeded second followed by Petroleum Sports Control Board's Siddarth Jain and former national runner-up Abhinn Shyam Gupta.

In the women's section, world No. 29 Popat is seeded ahead of former national champion Manjusha Kanwar, P V V Laxmi, B R Meenakshi in that order.

With the tournament proper starting on Thursday, the qualifiers will see promising players fighting it out for eight slots in the main draw.

In the doubles event, four places are up for grabs in men's section while in women's six pairs get the chance to join the main draw.

The first two days will witness the men's teams fighting for the prestigious Rahimtulla Cup while the women's will vie for Chaddha Cup with the individual events slated for February 3-7.

Nikhil Kanetkar, who was originally seeded 15, pulled out of the tournament due to fever. J B S Vidyadhar has been pushed up one place in the seeding to 15 while Joy P Anthony has been given the 16th seeding.

In the men's doubles, Marcose Bristow and Vijay Deep Singh were seed number one and are followed by Vincent Lobo and Jassel P Ismail.

The pair of P V V Laxmi and veteran Madhumita Bisht lead the women's doubles draw with the duo of Ketki Thakkar and Trupti Murgunde the second seeds.

Men's seedings:
1. Pullela Gopichand, 2. Sachin Ratti 3. Siddarth Jain, 4. Abhin Shyam Gupta, 5. Chetan Anand, 6. Sanave Thomas, 7. Abhishek Bakshi, 8. Anuj Gupta, 9. D Guruprasad, 10. Thomas Kurien, 11. Arup Baidya, 12. Madhur Kalia, 13. Srikant Bakshi, 14. Abhijit Naipalli, 15. J B S Vidyadhar, 16. Joy P Anthony.

Women's seedings:
1. Aparna Popat, 2. Manjusha Kanwar, 3. P V V Laxmi, 4. B R Meenakshi, 5. Divya Ramesh, 6. Parul Priyadarshini, 7. Trupti Murugunde, 8. Ketaki Thakur, 9. Jwala Gutta, 10. Sampada Shetye, 11. Shruti Kurein, 12. Leena Pedenkar, 13. Nupura Bhide, 14. Krupa Telang, 15. Swati Moghe, 16. Neelima Choudhary.