INDIA TAKE ON MALAYSIA IN SUDIRMAN CUP

Nanning, China: India will start as favourites against a young Malaysian team sans legend Lee Chong Wei when they clash in a Group 1D match of the Sudirman Cup here on Tuesday. India, who had reached the quarterfinals twice in the 2011 and 2017 editions, will have to overcome Malaysia, the 2009 semifinalists, when they begin their campaign. Any hiccups against Malaysia will make their next clash against the mighty China a must-win battle. Malaysia were thrashed 0-5 by China in the opening match and a loss against India will see them bow out of the competition. The 13-member Indian team, seeded eighth this time, will look to draw inspiration from their sensational win over Malaysia en route to an unprecedented team gold at the Commonwealth Games 2018. India’s chances during the mixed team championship will depend on the quality singles players such as reigning BWF World Tour Finals winner P.V. Sindhu, 2019 Indonesia Masters champion Saina Nehwal, 2019 India Open finalist Kidambi Srikanth and BWF World Tour Finals semi-finalist Sameer Verma. Malaysia will be led by Goh Jin Wei and Soniia Cheah in women’s singles, while Lee Zii Jia will be entrusted with the responsibility in men’s singles in the absence of Chong Wei, who is still recovering from nose cancer. While India hold the edge in both, given the way Soniia stretched All England Championship Chen Yufei Sunday, it will be interesting to see who India will select to field between World No. 5 Sindhu or Saina, ranked 9th.