Shuttlers keen to continue good show
25 July 2014 4:05 AM IST
India had won two gold, one silver and one bronze in 2010 and this time again they would look to repeat their performance even though they suffered a jolt with the late withdrawal of Saina due to injury.
P Kashyap and PV Sindhu are expected to be among medals in men’s and women’s singles repectively while the women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa would be raring to go to defend the gold they won in 2010.
The Indian team has been considerably weakened due to the absence of Saina but it will still be in the reckoning for a medal in the combined mixed team event. The badminton competitions at the Glasgow Games begin with mixed team event at the Emirates Arena and India has been placed in Pool B along with Ghana, Kenya and Uganda and it should not be a problem to top the group and make it to the knock-out round.
The Indian team is raring to go and they have left behind the disappointment of Saina’s pulling out. ‘The players are upbeat, they are training well and ready. We hope to do very well and maintain our level,’ team manager Tej Pal Singh Puri said.
About on Thursday’s match against Ghana and Kenya, Puri said, ‘We should be able to top our group and make it to the quarterfinals.’ The group winner of the six pools and the two best runners-up teams will make it to the quarterfinals. ‘We won silver last time but we cannot say anything now about our performance in the knock-out phase. There will be a draw after the preliminary rounds and we will know who plays whom in the knock-out phase,’ he added.
India has a strong chance to win at least a medal in the men’s singles after the pulling out of world number one Lee Chong Wei. Another Malaysian Wei Feng Chong is now the highest ranked left in the fray at 19th while India’s Kashyap, bronze winner in 2010 Delhi CWG, is ranked two rungs below. England’s Rajiv Ouseph, who won silver in 2010 Delhi CWG, is at 27th while two other Indians K Srikanth and RMV Gurusaidutt are at 31st and 35th.
Kashyap has been handed second seed while Ouseph is third. Srikanth and Gurusaidutt are fourth and fifth seeds. In women’s singles, only three players in the fray are in the top 50 with India’s P V Sindhu (11) leading the pack, followed by Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland (17) and Li Michelle of Canada (20).
P Kashyap and PV Sindhu are expected to be among medals in men’s and women’s singles repectively while the women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa would be raring to go to defend the gold they won in 2010.
The Indian team has been considerably weakened due to the absence of Saina but it will still be in the reckoning for a medal in the combined mixed team event. The badminton competitions at the Glasgow Games begin with mixed team event at the Emirates Arena and India has been placed in Pool B along with Ghana, Kenya and Uganda and it should not be a problem to top the group and make it to the knock-out round.
The Indian team is raring to go and they have left behind the disappointment of Saina’s pulling out. ‘The players are upbeat, they are training well and ready. We hope to do very well and maintain our level,’ team manager Tej Pal Singh Puri said.
About on Thursday’s match against Ghana and Kenya, Puri said, ‘We should be able to top our group and make it to the quarterfinals.’ The group winner of the six pools and the two best runners-up teams will make it to the quarterfinals. ‘We won silver last time but we cannot say anything now about our performance in the knock-out phase. There will be a draw after the preliminary rounds and we will know who plays whom in the knock-out phase,’ he added.
India has a strong chance to win at least a medal in the men’s singles after the pulling out of world number one Lee Chong Wei. Another Malaysian Wei Feng Chong is now the highest ranked left in the fray at 19th while India’s Kashyap, bronze winner in 2010 Delhi CWG, is ranked two rungs below. England’s Rajiv Ouseph, who won silver in 2010 Delhi CWG, is at 27th while two other Indians K Srikanth and RMV Gurusaidutt are at 31st and 35th.
Kashyap has been handed second seed while Ouseph is third. Srikanth and Gurusaidutt are fourth and fifth seeds. In women’s singles, only three players in the fray are in the top 50 with India’s P V Sindhu (11) leading the pack, followed by Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland (17) and Li Michelle of Canada (20).
Next Story
