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Depleted India looking for singles success

The Indian Thomas Cuppers, buoyed after their great show in February's Thomas Cup qualifiers in Delhi - - where the team earned a slot amongst the top eight badminton-playing nations after a gap of 12 years - - arrived in Kuala Lumpur on May 8 for the Thomas/Uber Cup finals, looking fit and raring to go.

The finals commence tomorrow at the air-conditioned Putra stadium, which has a 12,000 seating capacity. After 1992, this is the first time that Malaysia is hosting the finals.

The Indian team, however, will not be at full strength as some of their key players have been unable to make the trip owing to illness or injury. The biggest setback to their aspirations is the absence of Abhin Shyam Gupta, who played exceedingly well in the Delhi qualifier against Japan and Thailand. A serious ankle injury forced him out of action. Also missing from the squad is doubles specialist Vincent Lobo, who partnered Pulela Gopichand in the memorable last match against Thailand in the Delhi qualifier, which India won. He is down with jaundice.

However, in Chetan Anand and Sachin Ratti, in the singles, and George Thomas, in doubles, India has adequate replacements. The trio underwent a month-long camp in Bangalore prior to coming to Kuala Lumpur.

Yesterday, the Indians has three gruelling practice sessions under coaches Mohd. Arif and Vimal Kumar and certainly looked fit and good.

Says national coach Arif: ''We are down but not out. True Abhin would have been of great help to us, but with the way Siddharth Jain and Nikhil Kanitkar are playing, we should be all right in doubles. Vincent Lobo surely is a good player who will be missed.''

India take on European champions Denmark, one of the favourites for the title in men's team championship on May 12. According to Arif, India will concentrate on trying to get some singles wins.

''The Danes have two of the top ten ranked doubles pairs with them and therefore are more balanced than us. But in singles we at least can give them a tough time. Gopichand can defeat any of the top players in the world, and if he can get going the day after tomorrow, his game can inspire the rest.''

National champion Gopichand also feels that all is not lost for India.

''I have couple of good matches lined up. I should be playing world No. 1 Petergade Christensen of Denmark and world No. 4 Wong Chhon Han of Malaysia on May 14. I am looking forward to these matches as I have a good chance. I also think that our other singles players, like Siddharth Jain and Nikhil, will give a good account of themselves. Our best bet is against Korea, whom we play on May 15," he said.

The Indians are likely to get support from the Tamil and Punjabi population who are thrilled to have an Indian team in Kuala Lumpur after such a long time. Added to it is the joy that their hero Prakash Padukone is also present with his family, covering the tournament for an Indian daily. His name still inspires the Indian populace the world over.

In the opening matches, Indonesia take on Sweden, China plays England, and Denmark meets Malaysia.

Says Punch Gunalan, the secretary general of the Asian Badminton Confederation, ''Both the Badminton Association of Malaysia and the ABC have worked really hard on this event; we will ensure that it is a complete success."

The Malaysians, who are looking forward to to doing a repeat of 1992, when they lifted the Thomas Cup after a huge gap of 25 years, are without the services of former world No 1 Morten Frost, who was their chief coach. Korean superstar Park Joo Bong has taken his place.

There is no doubt however that the progress of the Indonesians, holders of the Thomas Cup, and Chinese will be keenly watched. China is specially upbeat after Xia Xuenze stunned everyone by winning the All England title this year. They are however without Dong Jiong, the former world No. 1 who has been ruled unfit.

The one team that can upset the Asian apple cart however remains Denmark which is strong in both singles and doubles. They now have an advantage which wasn't there before. The Putra stadium is air conditioned and therefore the heat and humidity of tropical Asia, which in past was an irritant to them, is now absent.

''This will be to our advantage. But we also have a strong enough line-up to at last realise a dream of the past 52 years," said manager Thomas Lund.

Denmark lost six times in the Thomas Cup finals and desperately want to be the first European team to win the biggest prize in the game.

In the Uber Cup, China is the strongest team and look certain to retain the title.

UNI