The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : India drawn with Japan

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Monday, Feb 04, 2008
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India drawn with Japan

New Delhi: Indian men were drawn with third seed Japan and Pakistan in Group ‘C’ of the Thomas Cup badminton tournament, while the Indian women were clubbed with Malaysia for the Uber Cup in the Asian qualifiers in Vietnam from February 19 to 24.

The men’s team, to be led by Anup Sridhar, is expected to go through the quarterfinals as the top two teams will make it to the last-eight stage after a round-robin group league to be played in Ho Chi Minh City.

Top seed Malaysia heads Group ‘A,’ while second-seeded South Korea and fourth seed Hong Kong head Group ‘B’ and ‘D’ respectively.

The top four teams — the semifinalists — qualify for the finals in Jakarta from May 11 to 18.

P. Kashyap, Arvind Bhatt and Chetan Anand are the Indian men’s singles players, while Rupesh Kumar, Sanave Thomas, V. Diju, Akshaye Diwalkar and J.B.S. Vidhyadhar were chosen for doubles.

In the Uber Cup Asian Zone qualifiers, Group ‘Z’ has only India and Malaysia, while top seed Japan plays Thailand and Sri Lanka in Group ‘W.’

The Indian team consists of Saina Nehwal, Aditi Mutatkar, Trupti Murgunde and Sayali Gokhale for singles, while Jwala Gutta, Shruti Kurien, Aparna Balan and Jyotsna make up the doubles.

Only top three teams will qualify for the finals to be held in Jakarta.

The team finishing fourth will be compared to the fourth-placed team from the European qualifiers.

The higher-ranking of the two, as of February 27, will make it to Jakarta. — PTI

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