PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen lead India’s quest for medal at Thomas and Uber Cup Final

Focus shall be on double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and World Championships bronze winner Lakshya Sen because the Indian badminton contingent resumes its quest for a medal on the Thomas and Uber Cup Final starting right here on Sunday.

No Indian males’s staff has ever received a medal within the Thomas Cup, having failed to achieve the semifinal even as soon as.

But the ladies had two semifinal finishes in successive editions of the Uber Cup to clinch two bronze medals in 2014 and 2016.

Last yr, each the lads’s and girls’s groups signed off their campaigns on the quarterfinal stage.

This time, India boasts of a robust males’s staff comprising world quantity 9 Sen, world quantity 11 Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy, ranked twenty third on the earth, in singles.

The doubles shall be led by world quantity 9 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, whereas the mixture of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, and that of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala are additionally a part of the staff.

Given a strong staff and a beneficial draw, Indian males will look to make the golden alternative rely as they open marketing campaign in opposition to Germany in group C which additionally includes Chinese Taipei and Canada.

The girls’s staff, nonetheless, was left depleted following the withdrawals of the skilled doubles pair of N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa and fast-rising Gayatri Gopichand.

Both Sikki and Gayatri are nursing accidents and have been suggested relaxation.

In their absence, the onus shall be on the shoulders of upcoming doubles gamers comparable to Tanisha Crasto, Shruti Mishra, Simran Singhi, Ritika Thaker and Treesa Jolly. In the ladies’s singles, world quantity 7 Sindhu must do the heavy lifting as the opposite two singles gamers Aakarshi Kashyap and younger Unnati Hooda lack expertise however will look to supply a superb present. They had made it to the squad following a rigorous choice trial.

With some key gamers lacking, it is going to be powerful for the ladies’s staff to get previous group D members South Korea, Canada and United States and win a medal.

According to the format, a complete of 16 groups have been drawn into 4 teams of 4 with the highest two groups advancing to the knockout stage.

Of all of the group C members, Indian males will face the hardest competitors from Chinese Taipei, who boasts of world quantity 4 Chou Tien Chen, moreover the world quantity 3 doubles pairing of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin.

For girls, Korea shall be a tricky competitor, boasting of world quantity 4 An Seyoung, world quantity 19 Kim Gaeun and world quantity 46 Sim Yujin, whereas Michelle Li is the highest participant for Canada, who may show to be a difficult buyer.

Defending champion Indonesia are essentially the most profitable staff within the Thomas Cup with 14 males’s titles, whereas China has 15 Uber Cup crowns of their kitty.

“We have the best chance to win Thomas Cup this time. We have three decent singles and one doubles pair at par with the best and we just have to make sure that they are all pumped up, all of them are capable of beating the best,” former India coach Vimal Kumar advised PTI.

“I can understand, it is difficult for the women’s team but the men’s team has a good chance.”