|
| Anup Sridar is in fine
nick |
Tokyo: Having achieved
their first target of reaching the quarter finals, India
would go full throttle against Denmark when they take on
the European powerhouse for a place in the last four in
the World Men’s Badminton Championship for Thomas Cup.
It would be an uphill task for India to pull off an upset
win against Denmark, who have the likes of world No. 3 Peter
Gade, No. 7 Kenneth Jonassen and No. 10 Christian Neils.
In the doubles also, Denmark have a formidable line-up with
top ranked pair of Jons Erikson and Martin Hansen in their
ranks along with Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen, the world
No. 4.
“We have nothing to lose now as reaching the quarters
is in itself a good achievement. We shall do our best against
Denmark and see if we can pull off a few matches,”
coach Vimal Kumar had said on Monday after India’s
3-0 win against New Zealand.
India managed to edge past Germany 3-2 after losing to defending
champions China in the league stage and then trounced New
Zealand to make it to the last eight.
Denmark, on the other hand, made a direct entry in the quarter
finals after blanking South Africa and Japan 5-0.
But the Indian shuttlers have also showed much promise,
reflected in the way they dispatched the New Zealanders
despite missing top player Chetan Anand due to an injury.
National champion Anup Sridhar packed off world No. 33 John
Moody while Nikhil Kanetkar, replacing Anand, rose to the
occasion and brushed aside Craig Cooper’s challenge.
Arvind Bhat was also impressive in his efforts.
The victory against New Zealand would serve as a big boost
for India given the fact that they were playing without
their top singles player in Anand and doubles specialist
in Sanave Thomas, who pulled out of the tournament.
It, however, remains to be seen whether Anand would take
the courts on Wednesday.
India’s Thomas Cup prospects were beset with problems
right from the start with a new doubles combination of Thomas
Kurien and Jaseel Ismail having to be worked out after Sanave’s
pull out.
But to their credit, they have done well to reach the last
eight of the premier event.
(PTI)
|
