8 DAYS TO GO

PV SINDHU SAINA NEHWAL KIDAMBI SRIKANTH MEN WOMEN

Consider this: Indian shuttlers won six medals, including two gold, to top the badminton tally among participating countries at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April. In contrast, Indians have only won eight medals, all bronze, in Asian Games, ever since the sport made its debut in the continental event at 1962.

That is exactly how challenging the competition will be when the likes of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu take to the courts in the Indonesian capital from August 19-28. Medals will be on offer in seven events — men’s singles, doubles and team, women’s singles, doubles and team, and mixed doubles. The first four days will see team event action followed by the five individual categories.

It’s a known fact that Asians dominate world badminton. Out of the five titles on offer during the finals of the 2018 World Championships, only one was won by a non-Asian — Carolina Marin (women’s singles). In fact, out of the 16 players in action during the finals on August 5, the Spaniard was the only non-Asian.

India’s record at the Games is poor. Singles, which currently is India’s biggest strength, has yielded only one medal — Syed Modi’s singles bronze in 1982.

The last time around, at Incheon, India could muster only one medal — a women’s team bronze — as everyone else failed to reach the finals. This was India’s first medal from the discipline at the Asian Games in 28 years! Competition will be no less tough this time around as shuttlers not just from China, but also Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong will be favourites.

Having reached the women’s singles final at the Worlds, Sindhu is favourite for a medal. However, she and Saina will have their task cut out against the likes of Tai Tzu Ying, He Bingjiao, Akane Yamaguchi and

Ratchanok

Intanon among others as India look to augment their kitty of medals.

Former world

No 1 Kidambi Srikanth will be India’s best bet among the men. But he and HS Prannoy will be against the likes of new world champion Kento Momota, Olympic champion Chen Long, five-time world champion Lin Dan among others.

Though strong in singles, all three formats of doubles are weak links for India. Experienced Ashwini Ponnappa and the rising Satwiksairaj Rankireddy can give other Asian teams a run for their money but others are likely to face early exit. Chirag Shetty and Rankireddy will lead the challenge in men’s doubles while N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini will be responsible for women’s doubles.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has selected a young 20-member side, six of whom will be representing the country for the first time.

“We have put together a very strong team and are optimistic about our chances. The mix of youth and experience will work wonders for us in team and individual events in Jakarta,” ,” BAI secretarygeneral Ajay Singhania said. India’s best bet for singles gold, Sindhu needs to get over her loss to Carolina Marin in the World Championships final and put her best foot forward. Having beaten her nemesis Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi at the Worlds, Sindhu will be among the top contenders for the title. The ace Indian defeated compatriot PV Sindhu to win the Commonwealth Games gold medal in April. Though she lost in the quarter-finals of World Badminton Championships, she will bank on her experience to come good. After the high of 2017 when he won four Super Series titles, Srikanth will be motivated to end the title drought this season. He lost the Commonwealth Games final to Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia. Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, B Sumeeth Reddy, Manu Attri, Pranaav Jerry Chopra, Sourabh Verma. Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, N Sikki Reddy, Ashwini Ponnappa, Sai Uttejitha Rao, Ashmita Chaliha, Rutaparna Panda, Aarthi Sara Sunil, Aakarshi Kashyap, Gayathri Gopichand.

Coaches: Pullela Gopichand, Tan Kim Her, Arun Vishnu, Edwin Iriawan

Support staff: Gayathri Shetty, Pedra Christopher, C Kiran, Arvind Nigam 1974 Tehran – Men’s team

1982 New Delhi – Syed Modi (men’s singles) 1982 New Delhi - Leroy D’Sa and Pradeep Gandhe (men’s doubles)

1982 New Delhi – Men’s team

1982 New Delhi – Women’s team 1982 New Delhi – Leroy D’Sa and Kanwal Thakkar Singh (mixed doubles)

1986 Seoul – Men’s team

2014 Incheon – Women’s team

BRONZE BARRIER India have never won a silver in the Asian Games but this time with several top10 players, hopes are high

Badminton was played as a demonstration sport at the 1958 Tokyo Games but became a competitive event at 1962 Jakarta India have never won a silver, let alone gold, but have brought home eight bronze medals Indian badminton players have participated in every Asian Games since 1962.

India won one medal at the 2014 Incheon Games, in women’s team event. This was the country’s first medal in the sport in 28 years. There are 7 badminton events in Asian Games — men’s singles, doubles, team, women’s singles, doubles, team and mixed doubles The team event will be played from August 19-22 and individual event from August 23-28 China is the most successful country at the Games with 101 medals (40 gold, 28 silver and 33 bronze) followed by Indonesia (91) and South Korea (66).

Badminton is the most popular sport of Indonesia, who are the hosts.