The Indian men and women team will take part in the prestigious Thomas and Uber Cup Badminton tournament starting from tomorrow in Kungsan, China. The Indian men team are grouped with Thailand, Indonesia, and Hong Kong China. K Srikanth who has skipped the tournament due to a hectic schedule and to get ready for the Olympics in August which will be the biggest test.
The Indian men’s team will take on Thailand tomorrow in the first match of Thomas Cup tournament. HS Prannoy has been ruled out due to a toe injury. Ajay Jayaram, Sai Pranneth, Sameer and Sourabh Verma will lead the challenge in the singles. While in the men’s doubles the pair of Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri will lead the challenge. Beside this match, Satwik R Raj of Andhra Pradesh and Chirag Shetty would complete the line-up. It is a big blow for the Indian team to play without big players like Srikanth and Prannoy but Sammer and Saurabh Verma have encouraging results to show. In the last edition, the Indian men’s team could not go beyond the league stage.
Without Srikanth and HS Prannoy it is going to be a tough task for the team. An important start for tomorrow’s match against Thailand is very crucial to give the team a morale boosting confidence ahead of matches against Hong Kong China and Indonesia. The Indian men’s team never reached the knockout rounds since inception 1948/49. In 2006, they reached the quarter-finals and in 2010 India lost to Indonesia in the quarter-finals 0-3.
In the Uber Cup , the Indian women’s team will be eyeing another medal after clinching a historic bronze medal in the 2014 edition. The Indian women’s team are clubbed with Australia, Japan, and Germany. The Indian women’s team will face Australia in their opening match on Monday before facing Japan and Germany.
The Indian women’s team will be led by Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu while the third singles will be a toss between Tanvi Lad, Gadre, and PC Thulasi. While in the women’s doubles Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa will lead in the doubles. The second doubles will be N Sikki Reddy and Maneesha who will compete in this tournament.
The competition will comprise of 3 singles and 2 doubles. The Indian women’s team has a bright chance of qualifying for the knockout rounds while the Indian men’s team need to play out of skin to qualify for the knockout rounds.
The Indian men’s team should play aggressive badminton and do not allow opponents to give a chance. While the Indian women’s team need to replicate their form what they did in 2014. Their biggest test will be against runners-up Japan. They need to be at their best to defeat the runners up. Germany and Australia are not going to tough opponents but need to guard against careless which might be their undoing.
Both Indian women and men’s team need to play their best badminton in order to bring laurels to the country.