The Hindu : Sport : India eyes qualifying slot in Thomas Cup

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 15, 2006

Sport

Sport

India eyes qualifying slot in Thomas Cup

Rakesh Rao

JAIPUR: Apart from the introduction of the new 21-point format, whether India succeeds as the fourth qualifier for the Thomas and Uber Cup finals is the main point of interest when the Asian preliminaries commence at the newly constructed Sawai Man Singh Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

In men's competition, India, clubbed with Hong Kong and Singapore in Group `C', will have to emerge on top to be among the four Asian qualifiers. The qualifiers will join defending champion China, host Japan and six other qualifiers in the finals to be staged from May 2 to 8.

50-50 chance

Coach Vimal Kumar rates India's qualifying chances as "50-50." Chetan Anand and Arvind Bhat, ranked 26th and 37th in the world, will be the ones playing the first two singles. In the third singles, it will be either National champion Anup Sridhar or Nikhil Kanetkar.

Hong Kong, with a few Indonesians thrown in, should start as the favourite to top the group.

Former champions Malaysia and Indonesia should sleepwalk their way through the league phase and qualify for the semifinals. Malaysia has lowly teams like Iran, Pakistan and Nepal for company in Group `A'.Indonesiais expected to brush aside Thailand and Vietnam in Group `B'. Korea should come out stronger against Chinese Taipei and Sri Lanka in Group `D'.

Unlikely

"Aparna, or no Aparna, it will be too much to expect from our women's team to qualify for the Uber Cup finals," said Vimal Kumar.

India will be looking to qualify for the first time in the 12-nation Finals in Japan in May. Given the fact that India is drawn in Group `Z' with Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Pakistan, the chances of host finishing one among the top two teams looks highly unlikely.

Thailand's Salakjit Ponsana and Monthila Meemak, ranked 21 and 32, too, are likely to prove a handful to a not-so-fit Aparna and Trupti Murgunde, whose ranking stand at 50 and 59 respectively. In the doubles, G. Jwala and Shruti Kurian do not hold much promise either.

Saina Nehwal will get an opportunity to learn a thing or two in whatever chances she gets this week. She is indeed an exciting prospect and promises to dominate the domestic scene in times to come. In the Group `Y', Korea looks set to top the group ahead of Malaysia and Indonesia, with Chinese Taipei and Iran filling in the lower places.

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