Hyderabad: Bereft of some of the bigger names it may be, but in no way can the importance of the Badminton Asia Team Championships — beginning in Hyderabad on Monday — be underplayed.
Marquee players like Saina Nehwal, Parupalli Kashyap, men’s World No.1 Chen Long, No.2 Lee Chong Wei and the fifth-ranked Lin Dan have pulled out but the tournament, which also serves as the Asian continental qualifier for the Thomas and Uber Cups, will award players crucial Olympic points. With the Rio Olympic Games just a few months away, every participating shuttler will be looking to play his/ her heart out.
India will feel keenly the absence of Saina — still recovering from a foot injury — but the rest of the team, which includes the in-form P.V. Sindhu and newly-crowned South Asian Games champion Ruthvika Shivani, seems well-equipped to take on Japan and Singapore in Group ‘D’. Jwala Gutta, Ashwini Ponnappa, K. Maneesha, Sikki Reddy, P.C. Thulasi and Arathi Sara Sunil make up the rest of India’s women’s squad.
In the men’s section, the pressure is on Kidambi Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram and H.S. Prannoy to first gain, and then maintain momentum in singles. Manu Attri, B. Sumeeth Reddy, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar are the doubles specialists for the hosts.
In men’s Group ‘A’, India face the tricky prospect of getting past China and Singapore to have a shot at qualifying for Thomas Cup. India open their campaign on Wednesday, with both the men and women taking on Singapore.
Indian men play against China on Thursday while the women take on Japan.
The top two from each of the four groups will enter the quarterfinals, to be played on Friday. The semifinalists from the men’s and women’s competitions will qualify for the Thomas and Uber Cups respectively.
On Monday, in the men’s section, Korea face the Philippines; China clash with Singapore; Indonesia take on the Maldives and Chinese Taipei play Thailand. In the women’s competition, Thailand run into Sri Lanka and China take on Hong Kong.
