Focus on Sindhu and men’s team, India would like to win title in BATC
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Thomas Cup champions India will look to win the Badminton Asia Team Championship (BATC) title on the back of the performance of its players, which will see two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu return from injury. The Indian men’s team won the Thomas Cup in 2022 and won its first silver medal at last year’s Asian Games.
The team will try to reach the finals of this continental competition in which it had won bronze medals in 2016 and 2018. The Indian men’s team will have to face strong China and Hong Kong in the Group A league matches, so it will not be so easy for them. India, led by HS Prannoy, will look to make it to the knockout stage by finishing in the top two along with Lakshya Sen and the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty.
The Sindhu-led women’s team has to face only China, the second team in the group, in Group ‘W’, with India assured of its place in the knockouts. But it will be a tough journey for the women’s team, which comprises Sindhu and two doubles pairs of Trisha Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand and Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto. This tournament holds more importance for Sindhu as she has been out of the game since October last year, due to which she would like to test her match fitness and gain the necessary confidence.
This 28 year old player suffered a knee injury in the French Open. After gaining fitness, she started training under the guidance of ‘mentor’ Prakash Padukone in Bengaluru. This continental tournament will also be important for the players as it will provide important qualification points for the ‘Race Tour the 2024 Paris Olympics’. The focus will also be on the young and second-tier Indian players which include Asmita Chaliha, Anmol Kharb and Tanvi Sharma.
India will begin their campaign on Wednesday with the men’s team facing Hong Kong while Sindhu and company will face China with Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei absent. But world number eight Han Yue, world number nine Wang Zhi Yi and world number 15 Zhang Yi Maan will prove too strong for India’s Chaliha and Kharab. Hong Kong men’s team has two strong players, world number 18 and world number 22, but they do not have a good doubles pair which is expected to overcome the hurdle of their Indian rivals.
Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
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