Depleted India struggle in world team championships
Men’s team loses to France while women feel the heat against Canada
BANGKOK: India’s young but depleted men and women’s teams jeopardised their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage after losing 1-4 to France and Canada respectively in the opening Group matches of the Thomas and Uber Cup Final here on Sunday.
The men’s team paid the price for not fielding world No. 9 HS Prannoy and the doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy as the inexperienced team proved no match for the lowerranked French counterparts.
India are without their top ranked player in men’s singles, Kidambi Srikanth, who has skipped the event.
World number 18 B Sai Praneeth gave India a positive start in their first Group A match, defeating Brice Leverdez 21-7 21-18 to take a 1-0 lead. In the second match, world No. 38 Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok lost 13-21, 16-21 to Bastian Kersaudy and Julien Maio.
Sameer Verma, ranked 21, then went down fighting 18-21, 22-20, 18-21 to Lucas Corvee in the second singles as France grabbed a 2-1 lead.
Arun George and Sanyam Shukla were no match for 103 ranked Thom Gicquel and Ronan Labar, losing 10-21, 12-21.
Sixteen-year-old Lakshya Sen gave a good account of himself even though he lost 20-22, 21-19, 19-21 to Toma Junior Popov. The men’s team will next face Australia.
In Uber Cup, India is without PV Sindhu and the pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy. The women’s team, which had won bronze in the last two editions, is dependent on Saina Nehwal
However, CWG gold medallist Saina went down 21-15, 16-21 16-21 to Michelle Li in the first match. It was Michelle’s first win over Saina as the gritty Canadian, ranked 22 in world, had lost to Saina before.
In the second singles, Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka went down to Rachel Honderich 11-21, 13-21.
The doubles pair of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram, ranked 41, gave India a glimmer of hope as they defeated Michelle Tong and Josephine Wu 21-19, 21-15, but Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli failed to get it across Brittney Tam, losing 11-21 15-21. In the final match, Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant lost 15-21, 16-21 to Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai.
MOMOTA STARS AS JAPAN WIN
In other Thomas Cup matches, Japan upstaged Hong Kong 4-1 in Group C. The talented Kento Momota, who won the Badminton Asian Championships, gave Japan a strong start beating Ng Ka Long 15-21, 21-16, 21-15 in the first singles. Japan raced through the next three matches. In another match, Indonesia thrashed Canada 5-0.
In Uber Cup, Thailand thrashed Germany 5-0 in Group B. Korea blanked Mauritius 5-0 while Japan too beat Australia 5-0. Chinese Taipei got past Hong Kong 4-1.