Not a good sign: India will have to heavily rely on Chirag Shetty (back) and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy as they don’t have a strong second doubles pair. — AP
PETALING JAYA: India have to be on their toes from the start if they hope to retain the Thomas Cup title.
The Indians, who shocked the world by capturing the prestigious team title for the first time in the last edition in 2022, have been drawn in a tough Group C this time alongside 14-time champions, Indonesia, Thailand and England.
The tournament is set to be held from April 27-May 5 in Chengdu.
The standout tie in the group will see India taking on Indonesia in a repeat of the 2022 final where the former stunned the later 3-0.
The Indians, though, need to raise their level to repeat their heroics after going down 2-3 to an under-strength Japanese team in the quarter-finals of the Asia Team Championships in Shah Alam last month, which also acted as the Asian region qualifiers for the Thomas Cup.
While India, led by world No. 1 men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, were already assured of a spot in Chengdu by virtue of being defending champions, a last-eight exit was still a disappointing outcome for the full strength team.
Another pressing issue for the Indians is the form of the country’s No. 1 singles player H.S. Prannoy.
The world No. 9 had a great 2023 where he captured bronze medals in the World Championships and Hangzhou Asian Games, and won his first World Tour title at the Malaysian Masters but he has suffered an alarming dip in form this year.
Prannoy, who was also instrumental in India’s Thomas Cup win, has lost in the opening round in all his individual tournaments this year except at home in the Indian Open where he made it to the semi-finals.
The 31-year-old also went down to Japan’s world No. 12 Kenta Nishimoto in the quarter-final tie in the Asia team meet to hand Japan the early advantage.
Overall, Prannoy only won one out of his three matches in the competition against China’s Weng Hongyang.
India also don’t have a strong second doubles pair and will have to rely heavily on Rankireddy-Shetty and their other singles players Lakshya Sen and K. Srikanth for the points if Prannoy does not rediscover his best form.
While Indonesia will be India’s main rivals in the group, Thailand will also be no pushovers.
The Thais have reigning singles world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in their ranks and dangerous doubles pair Supak Jomkoh-Kittinupong Kedren.
World No. 24 Supak-Kittinupong proved their capability by stunning the likes of China’s world No. 3 Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang, world No. 8 Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi and Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (No. 4) this year.
The Thais are also known for their strong team spirit and battling qualities in team events.
