Saina and Co look to better bronze show in team event
Saina and Co look to better bronze show in team event
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...show-in-team-event/cwgarticleshow/6677446.cms
NEW DELHI:
Saina Nehwal will have to lead by example while the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju will have to provide the push as Indian shuttlers take on some strong contenders in the Badminton team event of the
Commonwealth Games starting here on Monday.
India are the top seed in group D, which comprises of Scotland, Wales,
Barbados and
Kenya and national coach Pullela Gopichand feels, in the kind of form Indian shuttlers are in, the hosts should at least make the finals.
India will take on a lowly Kenya in their first match at the Siri Fort Complex to set the ball rolling.
"The team is in very good form. All of us have worked really hard and they should back themselves to reach the finals at least," Gopichand said.
"However the road would not be easy with Malaysia,
Singapore and England posing threat to India. But still I am hopeful that the team will do well and hopefully make it to the finals," he added.
At the
Melbourne Games in 2006, India finished with a bronze medal at the mixed team event with then rising shuttler Saina Nehwal playing the crucial role to beat much higher-ranked shuttlers like Tracy Hallam of England.
To better their show on their home turf, India will look to get past Barbados on Tuesday and beat
Wales and
Scotland on Wednesday, beside looking for an outright win on Monday.
Saina, who would be a favourite to win gold in the women's singles, and Chetan Anand will carry the onus in the singles event.
Jwala will have a huge responsibility of not only winning the mixed doubles match with Diju but also inspiring her women's doubles partner Ashwini Poppanna against tougher opponents like Malaysia, Singapore and England.
World number 16th pair of
Rupesh Kumar and
Sanave Thomas will also have to raise their game, specially against
Malaysia and England, in men's doubles.
"It will be difficult to win gold in team event as Malaysia, Singapore and England are very good. They have some wonderful doubles pairs and we will have to take one match at a time and decide the strategy accordingly," Saina said.
The top two teams in each of the four groups will advance to the quarterfinals, which will be played on October 7. The semifinals will be held on the same day while the bronze-medal and gold-medal matches will be held on October 8. The individual events will start the next day.
Badminton was introduced in the Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1966 in which Dinesh Khanna won a bronze medal for India.
Former All England champion Prakash Padukone was the first Indian to win a Commonwealth gold, at the 1978 Edmonton Games, and Syed Modi repeated the show in 1982 at
Brisbane.
Gopichand, who is also an All England Champion, won a bronze at the Kuala Lumpur Games in 1998, while Chetan is the other bronze medallist, having won it in Melbourne four years ago.