Center of attention might be on double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and Global Championships bronze winner Lakshya Sen because the Indian badminton contingent resumes its quest for a medal on the Thomas and Uber Cup Ultimate starting right here on Sunday.
No Indian males’s crew has ever gained a medal within the Thomas Cup, having failed to succeed in the semifinal even as soon as.
However the girls had two semifinal finishes in successive editions of the Uber Cup to clinch two bronze medals in 2014 and 2016.
Ultimate 12 months, each the boys’s and girls’s groups signed off their campaigns on the quarterfinal level.
This time, India boasts of a powerful males’s crew comprising international quantity 9 Sen, international quantity 11 Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy, ranked twenty third on this planet, in singles.
The doubles might be led via international quantity 9 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, whilst the mix of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, and that of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala also are a part of the crew.
Given a powerful crew and a beneficial draw, Indian males will glance to make the golden alternative depend as they open marketing campaign towards Germany in workforce C which additionally accommodates Chinese language Taipei and Canada.
The ladies’s crew, alternatively, used to be left depleted following the withdrawals of the skilled doubles pair of N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa and fast-rising Gayatri Gopichand.
Each Sikki and Gayatri are nursing accidents and feature been recommended leisure.
Of their absence, the onus might be at the shoulders of upcoming doubles avid gamers similar to Tanisha Crasto, Shruti Mishra, Simran Singhi, Ritika Thaker and Treesa Jolly. Within the girls’s singles, international quantity 7 Sindhu should do the heavy lifting as the opposite two singles avid gamers Aakarshi Kashyap and younger Unnati Hooda lack revel in however will glance to supply a excellent display. They’d made it to the squad following a rigorous variety trial.
With some key avid gamers lacking, it’ll be tricky for the ladies’s crew to get previous workforce D participants South Korea, Canada and United States and win a medal.
In keeping with the structure, a complete of 16 groups had been drawn into 4 teams of 4 with the highest two groups advancing to the knockout level.
Of the entire workforce C participants, Indian males will face the hardest pageant from Chinese language Taipei, who boasts of worldwide quantity 4 Chou Tien Chen, but even so the arena quantity 3 doubles pairing of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin.
For girls, Korea might be a difficult competitor, boasting of worldwide quantity 4 An Seyoung, international quantity 19 Kim Gaeun and international quantity 46 Sim Yujin, whilst Michelle Li is the highest participant for Canada, who would possibly turn out to be a tough buyer.
Protecting champion Indonesia are essentially the most a hit crew within the Thomas Cup with 14 males’s titles, whilst China has 15 Uber Cup crowns of their kitty.
“Now we have the most efficient likelihood to win Thomas Cup this time. Now we have 3 first rate singles and one doubles pair at par with the most efficient and we simply must ensure that they’re all pumped up, they all are able to beating the most efficient,” former India trainer Vimal Kumar informed PTI.
“I will perceive, it’s tough for the ladies’s crew however the males’s crew has an excellent chance.”