Indian women face Australia in their opening encounter of the 26th edition of the Uber Cup, at the Kunshan Sports Center Stadium in China, today. After the men’s team went down to the Thai squad in their first outing here at the Thomas Cup yesterday, the onus is on our women to set the ball rolling for the Indian contingent.
Seeded 5th in this tournament, our shuttlers are significantly ahead of the Australian team who find themselves placed 15th among the sixteen participating teams. It is still crucial to start on a positive note in order to gain momentum before they face stronger opponents like Germany and Japan who also share Group D with India.
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In the first game, Saina Nehwal will take on Wendy Chen in singles to open the campaign for India. Coming off an impressive display at the Asian Champions last month, the World No. 8 from India is expected to see out her Oceanic counterpart without much trouble.
Following suit will be Pusarla Venkata Sindhu when she meets Joy Lai in the 2nd fixture of the day, and with the Aussie currently ranked 78th by the BWF as opposed to her 10th, it is pretty safe to assume that she will not be facing too much of a difficulty either.
Next, the dynamic duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa will go up against Gronya Somerville and Wendy Chen to flag off the doubles’ journey here at Kunshan. Once again, the odds will be heavily inclined towards the Indian side who have already fetched a gold medal at the South Asian Games concluded earlier this year.
Nineteen-year-old Ruthvika Shivani Gadde is scheduled to play Tiffany Ho in the fourth match before P. V. Sindhu takes the court for a second time in the day to pair up with N. Sikki Reddy for the 5th and final contest against the Australian pair of Leanne Choo and Joy Lai.
China, Chinese Taipei, Korea and Indonesia have all opened with 5-0 victories yesterday. Will the Indians succeed in doing the same and thus begin their Uber Cup 2016 on a high? Keep following this space to find out.
