Sudirman Cup 2019 | The draw is very tough, believes Pullela Gopichand
Ahead of India’s campaign at the Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton championship, chief national coach Pullela Gopichand has mentioned that the draw for the Indians is “very tough”. However, he has further added that the Indian shuttlers have trained hard and their target is to bag a medal.
India will have to face China and Malaysia in Group I-D in the first round of the Sudirman Cup mixed team championship, which gets underway in Nanning, China on Sunday. The Indian team will start its campaign on Tuesday against Malaysia while they will next meet China on Wednesday. A win against any of these two teams will ensure that the Indians qualify for the quarters of the tournament.
PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal are taking the charge of the women’s singles for the Indians while the badminton fans will hope for a good show from Kidambi Srikanth in men’s singles matches. Each rubber during the tournament will include men’s singles, doubles, women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles matches.
According to the chief coach Pullela Gopichand, the Indian shuttlers have got a very tough draw but they are all prepared after training hard and have an aim of returning home with a medal from the tournament.
"The draw is very tough. Against Malaysia, the singles may not be difficult but we need to work hard in doubles. Our players have trained really hard and our target is to win a medal at this tournament," Gopichand told TOI.
The Indian badminton team have never won a single medal in the 30 year history of the Sudirman Cup and will expect to go past the quarter-final stage for the first time this year. Apart from the singles players, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy will take the charge in the doubles matches.
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