After the disastrous Sudirman Cup campaign in Finland, Indian Thomas and Uber cup teams moved to Denmark to play the 2020 Thomas and Uber cup matches. India has had a bit of a chequered history in the Thomas cup editions. This will be the 31st Thomas cup. The Cup started in 1949 but India could not participate in the inaugural edition. Malaysia was given the pride of place and were seeded no.1 in the men’s team championship. Other teams had to fight it out to name the inter-zonal winner, who entered the Challenge round to to face Malaysia in the nine-match format of five singles and four doubles.
India started their participation from the 1952 edition, and won the Asian zone, earning the right to play Denmark in the zonal semi-finals. They defeated Denmark 6-3, but lost to the USA 4-5 in the finals. Malaysia crushed USA 7-2 in the challenge round. The cup was held every three years till 1982, and thereafter it became a biennial affair in a new format of three singles and two doubles.
In 1955, India again won the Asian zone and defeated USA 6-3, but this time lost to Denmark 3-6. The Danes, however, could not take the tropical heat of Singapore and succumbed to Malaysia in the finals.
India could reach semi-finals stage twice more but has never played the finals. To date, the most successful nation has been Indonesia with 13 titles, China with 10, Malaysia with 5 and Denmark with 1 solitary win.
For this edition of the Thomas cup, India are drawn in Group C with China, Netherlands and rookies Tahiti. India have a good chance of moving to the next round after the group matches. It will be a tough ask to overcome the Chinese challenge but Tahiti should be a cakewalk. That leaves Netherlands and India have, in the past, overcome this team without much hassle.
Most of the Netherlands players are ranked much below their Indian counterparts in world rankings. In fact, at time of writing, rankings of 28 September are out and barring Mark Caljouw – ranked-36 – no other singles player from country is ranked in the top 100. Such is their depth. In contrast India have seven in top 50. This includes Kidambi Srikanth at 13th, Sai Praneeth at 17th and Sameer Verma at 27 and these should figure in the three singles matches for India at the Thomas cup. Kiran George who did very well in the team selection trials also can be given a chance. India have the capability of winning all the three singles matches.
“I am still mystified at the Sudirman Cup fiasco. Before I talk about Thomas cup, I have a question for which no one seems to have an answer. If one of the partners was injured in the Satwik Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty duo, why did the fit partner not travel for the tournament? I believe Chirag had pulled some abdominal muscles, but Satwik was alright. He and Ashwini Ponnappa would have made a deadly combination for the mixed doubles,” said Leroy D’sa, former national coach and legendary India player.
He went on to add, “Anyhow, coming back to Thomas cup, there is no reason why India can’t wipe out Netherlands and qualify for the next round. India are stronger in every aspect and the only match in which the Dutch have a chance is the first singles match where Caljouw could upset one of the Indians. He is after all last year’s All England semifinalist. There were doubts over Satwiksairaj’s fitness and in his absence, India could have pushed for the team of Arjun and Kapila. They would have had to play the top Dutch combination of Jelle Maas/Robin Tabeling, currently ranked 39. This pair played really well in the Sudirman cup and their current top form should take care of the Netherlands duo”.
But the good news is that the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are going to Denmark for the Thomas cup and this will definitely boost India’s chances in mixed and men’s doubles. The team management now need not think like Chankya and come out with best combination. The 2nd pair from the Dutch side may be Ruben Jille/Ties Van Der Leco, ranked 66th. This match could well be the most important match for India. India have to tread carefully here. But Leroy feels a 5-0 or 4-1 tie score in favour of India is very much on cards.
Former chief coach Vimal Kumar feels India will defeat the Netherlands, but it could be close if they do not put their best foot forward. “Many European players do not play big tournaments in Asia. So they do not get high rankings, but they play a lot in Europe and have pretty good standards. So these (Dutch) guys may not be highly ranked, but they are still strong. So we have to be careful. Mark is good and his sparring partners also must be good. On our side both Sai and Srikanth look out of form, so decision on who will play Mark is a tricky one. I hope they are fit and strong and raring to go. And I also hope we get our best players on court, unlike in the Sudirman Cup.”
Both Leroy and Vimal are cautious and feel India’s chances of qualification for next round are good. India will play Netherlands on October 10.
Against Tahiti or French Polynesia, as it is also called, India should canter through on October 12 with 5-0 win and move on to play their last group match against the mighty Chinese. The Asian powerhouse have far too many players in top ten and will not show any mercy. However, this will be a great chance for the Indian players to go all out and make a name for themselves.
One only hopes that Rankireddy and Shetty are fit, and in form, to play, as this 10th ranked pair can take the battle to any of the top-ranked pair China has to offer. But, simply put, it is difficult to defeat China. So India qualify to the next stage as number two from their group.
In this 29th edition of the Uber cup, India women shuttlers should be able to emulate the Thomas cuppers and should qualify for the next round. In what is a very favourable draw, India play Thailand, Spain and Scotland in Group B. Thailand were runners up in last Uber Cup. India reached semi-finals in 2014 and 2016 to claim the bronze medal. India’s easiest tie should be against Spain on October 10. They will then take on Scotland on 12 October and finally the most important Tie against Thailand on October 13.
“We should have no trouble in reaching the quarter-finals as we should defeat both Spain and Scotland without any problem,” opined the prolific and legendry Madhumita Bisht, 20 times national champion and former national coach. “Spain has no depth at all. Former world and Olympic champion Carolina Marin may not be playing due to injury. And even if she has recovered and comes down to play she can win that one singles match. But against Saina Nehwal there will still be a 50/50 chance. In all the other matches, Spain will find it difficult to match us. Clara Azurmendi at 72 (world ranking) can be taken out by Malvika Bansod. Since they do not have any ranked doubles pair we should win both. I think 5-0 is correct tie assessment for us,” she added.
“Against Scotland also we should have no problem. Saina leads 7-0 in head to head against Kirsty Gilmour the number one ranked player from Scotland. She has been taken to three games couple of times. This Uber Cup should be no exception. I have seen her play. She plays some tricky shots but also tries to be very sharp at times and therefore makes mistakes. In any case, I do not see Saina losing to Kirsty,” says Madhumita.
Scotland’s doubles pair are ranked 66th in the world. Indian pairs of Ashwini Ponnappa/Sikki Reddy and the youngsters Rutuparna Panda/Tanisha Crasto are capable enough to defeat the Scots. This brings us to India’s final tie against the higher-seeded Thailand, which could decide who tops the group. With Ratchanok Intathon reportedly injured – she did not play the Sudirman Cup – Thailand may be handicapped a little but with Pornpawee Chochuwong (world No.11) waiting in the side lines to play first singles, things may not be so easy for India. India have defeated Thailand in Uber Cup before, but at that time Saina and PV Sindhu were on top of their game and Jwala Gutta was spearheading doubles.
This time that is not the case. Thailand is stronger both in singles and doubles. A lot will depend who plays the second singles. “This will be a crucial match for us. Saina at best is a 50/50 in first singles. If she wins then India will be in good position and also the second singles player will get a boost. But I don’t know the fitness level of Saina. I hope she is match-sharp and is motivated to rise for the occasion,” said Madhumita.
The former national champion is impressed by Malvika Bansod. The 20-year-old played against Chochuwong in Sudirman Cup and ensured that the world no.10 Chochuwang had to raise her game to subdue the Indian. Bansod can very well take out the veteran Nitchaon Jindapol (ranked 23rd). But Aditi Bhatt is not experienced or strong enough to win the last singles against Chaiwan, ranked 31.
Madhumita concurred and concluded that India will qualify but at the second spot from the group. Absense of PV Sindhu will be strongly felt. She would have won the first singles leaving Saina to win against the lower-ranked Jindapol and Malvika would be in strong position to wrap up the third singles. We will have to wait till October 13 to see what actually happens.
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