On Tuesday, the Indian women’s badminton team defeated Scotland to enter the quarterfinals of the prestigious Uber cup- the women’s category in the Thomas and Uber Cup.
The championship is a team event in which men and women compete against different countries. Currently, it is being held in Aarhus, Denmark. It comprises of three doubles matches and three singles match.
Uber Cup has 16 teams, and Group-B consists of India, Thailand, Scotland and Spain. Defending champions Japan are in Group-A.
The women’s team consists of Saina Nehwal, Malvika Bansod, Rutuparna Panda, Treesa Jolly, Tasnim Mir, Tanisha Crasto, Aditi Bhat, Ashwini Ponappa, N.Sikki Reddy and Gayatri Gopichand. The women’s team had a superb victory over Scotland where they defeated them 4-1.
With this victory over Scotland, India is now ranked second in Group B with two wins. Thailand is ranked first with two straight wins that are 5-0 against Scotland and Spain.
The Indian team sealed the victory over Spain by 3-2 on Sunday, during which ace player Saina Nehwal was forced to abandon the singles match due to a groin issue.
The game progress
Being the one to play the first singles, Nagpur’s Malvika Bansod lost to a much-experienced player, Scotland’s Kirsty Gilmour, with a 13-21 9-21. To level the score, singles’ player Aditi Bhat got the better of Rachel Sugden by defeating her with a score of 21-14 21-8.
Moving on to the doubles matches, the pair of Tanisha Crasto and Rutuparna Panda overpowered the Scottish duo of Julie Machperson and Ciara Torrance with a score of 21-11 21-8 and gave India a 2-1 victory.
The last singles of the team events were played by Tasnim Mir, who sealed the victory by defeating Lauren Middleton by scoring a 21-15 21-6 victory.
In the reverse doubles events, the women’s pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, daughter of the national coach, and former Indian player Pullela Gopichand, got the better of Kirsty Gilmour and Eleanor O’Donnell with a score of 21-8 19-21 21-10 in a hard-fought match that lasted 55 minutes.
The Thomas Cup, the men’s category India has been paired with China, Netherlands and Tahiti in Group C with 16 other groups.
In the men’s category, India stands in second place after China defeating both Tahiti and Netherlands in straight games that are 5-0.
The team members for the men’s team are B.Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth, Chirag Shetty, Sathwiksairaj Rankireddy, Kiran George, Sameer Verma, Dhruv Kapila, M.R. Arjun, Krishna Prasad Garga and Vishnu Vardhan.
Having defeated both Tahiti and Netherlands, the Indians men team will now face an intense battle against the reigning champions China, which have excellent players like Shi Yuqui, Tang Quiang etc.
On the other hand, India will lock horns with a powerful opponent: Thailand on Wednesday. Thailand is known to have excellent singles and doubles players, some of whom have been world no 1. Thailand is a tough nut to crack, but with experienced players like Saina Nehwal, Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponappa and the young players’ strength and agility, India can definitely win. The top position in the group will make sure that India will face comparatively lower-ranked opponents in the knockouts.
The men’s team made an outstanding debut by defeating the lower-ranked Netherlands 5-0, where India’s best singles players such as KIdambi Srikanth and Sai Praneeth won their respective matches.
The Indians took over the doubles reign when Chirag Shetty and Sathwiksairaj Rankireddy won in straight games. India has twice [2014 in New Delhi and 2016 in Kunshan] and has reached this prestigious tournament’s semi-finals.
