Defending Champion India faces Thailand in their Thomas Cup Opener.
While the Thomas Cup is the world badminton team championship for men, the Uber Cup is the women’s version. Both championships are held simultaneously biannually.
Top-ranked Indian male shuttlers Sai Praneeth and K Srikanth had a rather horrible start to their 2020 season as they were both knocked out of the opening round of Malaysia Masters. Even P Kashyap bowed out of the tournament.
Praneeth made a first-round exit after suffering an 11-21, 15-21 defeat to Denmark’s Rasmus Gemke in a contest which lasted 46 minutes.
On the other hand, Srikanth lost his second seed match to World number 2 Taiwan’s Chou Tien Chen 17-21, 5-21 in a match that lasted half an hour. The loss marked his fifth successive defeat to Chou.
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Kashyap encountered a straightforward 17-21, 16-21 loss to world No 1 Kento Momota.
The defeats meant further disappointment for India in the Super 500 tournament after Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty already made early exits from the tournament.
However, Saina Nehwal tasted a win in the first round contest over Belgium’s Lianne Tan and proceeded to the second round of the women’s singles event. Saina edged past her opponent 21-15, 21-17 in 36 minutes in what was their first match against each other.
PV Sindhu also raced into the second round of the competition, moving past Kosetskaya 21-15, 21-13 in a match that lasted 35 minutes.
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