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.
Ace Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the ongoing Thailand Open after suffering defeats in their respective second-round matches of the BWF $350,000 tournament here on Thursday.
Seventh seed Saina, who won against Thailand’s Phittayaporn Chaiwan in the opening round, squandered a game advantage to lose 21-16, 11-21, 14-21 against unseeded Sayaka Takahashi of Japan in a match that lasted 48 minutes.
In the absence of Olympic medallist P.V. Sindhu, who withdrew in the last minute from the event, Saina’s ouster marks the end of India’s campaign in the women’s singles event.
Advertisement
The world number eight was competing at the Thailand Open after a two-month injury lay-off, which had forced her to miss the Indonesia Open and Japan Open.
In men’s singles event, Srikanth lost 21-11, 16-21, 12-21 to Thailand’s Khosit Phetpradab in a second-round duel which lasted less than an hour. Parupalli Kashyap also lost his second-round contest to Chou Tien Chen of Taiwan 9-21, 14-21 in 33 minutes.
However, there was some good news in the men’s doubles event as the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty moved into the quarterfinals after registering a straight-game 21-17, 21-19 win over Indonesian combination of Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.
They will face qualifiers Choi Solgyu and Seo Seung Jae of Korea on Friday.
Advertisement
