Danes bank on their doubles

strength in men’s doubles could be the key in their hope of overcoming Malaysia in today’s Thomas Cup Group D encounter.

The winner of the blockbuster tie will top the group for an easier quarter-final draw.

Mads Pieler Kolding, who makes up Denmark’s No 1 pair with Mads Conrad-Petersen, said his team have got so much depth in their doubles department that people wouldn’t bat an eyelid if they switched players around.

In the absence of Carsten Mogensen, his partner Mathias Boe partnered Mathias Christiansen in the opening group tie against Algeria where the defending champions thrashed the African side 5-0.

For the record, Boe-Christiansen have yet to lose a game at the Thomas Cup, including their short stint in 2016.

“Our doubles will definitely be the key heading into tomorrow’s (today) tie against Malaysia. Technically, Conrad-Petersen and I are the No 1 here, but we could always switch our players around,” said Kolding, who helped deliver Denmark’s second point against Russia in their second group tie.

“I believe our squad have got a lot of jokers up our sleeves, and we will see tomorrow if we decide to play Boe-Christiansen or even our second pair (Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen), then again we can just scratch them up.

“I say our doubles is key because anything can happen against Malaysia. Should Viktor (Axelsen) go down in the first match (against Lee Chong Wei), we will have to level the tie in the doubles.

“It is not the same as two years ago, but we hope to repeat the feat. Our understanding is simple. We are free and easy as we know what we want.”

Denmark, who didn’t rest any of their top players, beat Russia 5-0. They have yet to drop a game in the tournament.