India will look to see their star players including Saina Nehwal and men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy recover quickly from the Sudirman Cup drubbing and perform well in the Thomas and Uber Cup final starting on Saturday. With their stars missing and senior players out of form, India cut a sorry figure in the Sudirman Cup mixed team championship in Vantaa, the final as they lost to China and Thailand to crash out of the tournament last week .
However, with Saina and Chirag and Satwik back in the squad, India will look to put aside the disappointment of the Sudirman Cup with a strong performance in the men’s and women’s team events, where 16 top teams from five continents battle it out for a week. In the Thomas Cup, the Indian team is placed in Group C along with China, Netherlands and Tahiti, while the women’s team is placed in Group B of the Uber Cup along with Thailand, Spain and Scotland.
While the men’s team will open against the Netherlands, the women’s team will take on Spain in their opening match of the tournament. The 10-man men’s team consists of four singles players and three doubles players.
Along with B Sai Praneeth, former world number one Kidambi Srikanth, Sameer Verma and Kiran George are also in the team, while world number 10 pair Chirag and Satwik, Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun and Krishna Prasad and Vishnu Vardhan are in doubles. . Chirag, who was ruled out of the Sudirman Cup due to a hamstring strain, believes India have a chance to win a medal.
“Looking at the draw, we should first reach the quarter-finals and then step up our game for the medals. I think India has a chance.
While Chirag and Satwik are expected to carry the team on their young shoulders, the lack of senior members like Srikanth and Praneeth is a matter of concern. Both will have their confidence to regain when they take on the Netherlands before their next match against mighty China, which will be followed by a clash against lower-ranked Tahiti.
The women’s team has won bronze medals twice in the tournament, in the 2014 and 2016 editions, but getting a medal this time will be tough, especially without the services of double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu, who has forgiven herself after a busy Tokyo Games campaign. Had done it. London Olympics bronze medalist Saina, who missed the cut for Tokyo, will have to do the heavy lifting while youngsters Malvika Bansod, Aditi Bhatt and Tasneem Mir will also try to put up a good show.
In doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy are the senior players and will be responsible for delivering the cargo and guiding the young duo of Tanisha Crasto and Rutuparna Panda, who claimed the top spot in the trials, and Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly. The women’s team would envision their chances against Spain, which would be without the services of 2016 Olympic gold medalist Carolina Marin, and Scotland, who have a formidable player in Christie Gilmour, to enter the knockout stage. The biennial event was rescheduled twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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