Sindhu, Lakshya lead India’s medal quest
Focus will be on double Olympic medalist P V Sindhu and World Championships bronze winner Lakshya Sen as the Indian badminton contingent resumes its quest for a medal at the Thomas and Uber Cup Final beginning here on Sunday.
No Indian men's team has ever won a medal in the Thomas Cup,
having failed to reach the semifinal even once.
But the women had two semifinal finishes in successive editions of the Uber Cup to clinch two bronze medals in 2014 and 2016.
Last year, both the men's and women's teams signed off their campaigns at the quarterfinal stage.
This time, India boasts of a strong men's team comprising the likes of World no. 9 Sen, World No. 11 Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy, ranked 23rd in
the world, in singles.
The doubles will be led by World No. 9 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, while the combination of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, and that of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala are also part of the team.
Given a robust team and a favourable draw, Indian men will look to make the golden opportunity count as they open campaign against Germany in Group ‘C’ which also comprises Chinese Taipei and Canada.
The women's team, however, was left depleted following the withdrawals of the experienced doubles pair of N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa and fast-rising Gayatri Gopichand.
Both Sikki and Gayatri are nursing injuries and have been advised rest.
In their absence, the onus will be on the shoulders of upcoming doubles players such as Tanisha Crasto, Shruti Mishra, Simran Singhi, Ritika Thaker and Treesa Jolly.
In the women's singles, World no. 7 Sindhu will have to do the heavy lifting as the other two singles players Aakarshi Kashyap and young Unnati Hooda lack experience but will look to produce a good show. They had made it to the squad following a rigorous selection trial.