India drawn alongside Malaysia, UAE, Kazakhstan in Asia Mixed Team C’ships

India have been handed an honest draw after being positioned alongside Malaysia, UAE, and Kazakhstan in Group B on the Asia Mixed Team Championships scheduled to be held in Dubai from February 14 to 19.

A complete of 17 groups will combat for honours on the continental championships and the draw for a similar was unveiled on Tuesday on the Dubai Sports Council in presence of double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu.

The prestigious occasion, which can be returning after the final version was cancelled as a result of COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, can be held on the Dubai Exhibition Centre.

Defending champions China, Korea, Singapore and Uzbekistan are clubbed in Group A, whereas Group C contains Indonesia, Thailand, Bahrain, Syria and Lebanon and 2017 champion Japan, Chinese Taipei, final version’s bronze medallists Hong Kong and Pakistan are drawn in Group D.

China, Japan, Indonesia, and Malaysia are the highest 4 seeded groups.

All the groups within the group will compete in spherical robin format with the highest two groups advancing to the knockout stage.

Each tie will comprise two singles and three doubles matches.

The Indian crew consists of Sindhu, Aakarshi Kashyap, Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen, world No. 9 HS Prannoy, world No 5 Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy and Chirag Shetty, Krishna Prasad Garga and Vishnuvardhan Goud P and Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, Ashwini Bhat/Shikha Gautam, combined doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto.

India did not cross the quarterfinal stage within the inaugural version in 2017 and ended their marketing campaign on the group stage in 2019.