Thomas & Uber Cup: Sindhu, top women’s doubles pairs pull out

PRIORITIES HAVE been made clear. For the Thomas Cup Finals, India will go all in to try and defend their historic title from 2022. For Uber Cup Finals, where chances of progress beyond the group stage into the podium places is difficult, the big guns will be rested to keep their powder dry for Paris.

Going in as defending world champions, India have named a strong squad for Thomas Cup from April 27 - May 5, while PV Sindhu and the country's top two women's doubles pairs have not been named in the Uber Cup squad that was named by the Badminton Association of India on Wednesday.

HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen – both on their way to Paris to represent India in men's singles – as well as men's doubles world No 1 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will lead India's charge in Chengdu, China. Srikanth Kidambi went unbeaten in Bangkok as the leader of the group last time around, and despite his rollercoaster season so far, has expectedly made the cut.

Priyanshu Rajawat could push Srikanth and make a strong case to be picked as the third singles player in the 5-match ties. Between Srikanth and Priyanshu, India have a strong third singles option either way. Kiran George is the back-up.

The BAI press release said that it felt that it was important to have an additional singles player in the squad as most of the top players have gone through the rigours of the Paris Olympic qualification phase in the runup to Thomas Cup. The tournament begins just after the end of the Race to Paris window, and won't have any bearing on qualification for Paris.

The final decision on the Thomas Cup squad was taken after an online meeting of the selection committee that comprises Chief National coach Pulella Gopichand as well as U Vimal Kumar, Jwala Gutta, Manjusha Kanwar, Partho Ganguly and Mallika Baruah Sarma. "In doubles, the selectors have picked top two pairs and Sai Pratheek is selected as an additional doubles player after consultation with Mathias Boe (Danish doubles coach) just in case somebody is not fully fit or needs recovery," BAI General Secretary Sanjay Mishra said.

For the Uber Cup, In Sindhu's absence,

Ashmita Chaliha will lead the way with national champion Anmol getting another chance to test herself at the highest level in the 8-member squad. Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa are currently in a position to qualify for Paris as the solitary Indian representatives in women's doubles.

“Sindhu informed the selectors that due to back-to-back tournaments leading up to the Olympics, she and her team have decided to skip the Uber Cup to prepare for the Olympics. Top doubles pairs also cited similar reasons and, since it is not a full-strength team, they also pulled out. The selectors then decided to go ahead with young players who have done well recently at the National Championships," the BAI statement said.

The Indian men’s team will be pitted against Indonesia right away, after being drawn in the same group. The champions India and most successful side of the tournament Indonesia were drawn together in Group C, alongside Thailand and England. Top two teams will qualify for the last eight, and it is worth noting though that India did manage to go all the way last time despite not topping their group.

The young Uber Cup squad will have their task cut to qualify out of the group, as they have to contend with the competition’s most successful side as well in China. Canada and Singapore are the other two teams in the group. If national champs Shruti Mishra and

Priya Konjengbam can step up along with Ashmita and Anmol, there could be a chance to progress into the last 8.

Teenagers Isharani Baruah and Tanvi Sharma are the other two singles players, while Simran Singhi and Ritika Thakkar have been on the circuit fair few years.

PV Sindhu decided to skip the Uber Cup to prepare for the Olympics.