Women’s singles badminton player, Pusarla Venkata Sindhu will not play for India in the 2024 Uber Cup .
Apart from Sindhu, the top two women’s doubles pairs are also absent. In fact, Sindhu succeeded in bringing India to become champions at the 2024 Asian Team Championships, last February in Malaysia.
This condition means that India will rely on the men’s team which is the 2022 Thomas Cup champion in the 2024 Thomas Cup which is scheduled for April 27-May 5 in Chengdu, China.
Sindhu, who has participated in six tournaments since she returned to action at the 2024 Asian Team Championships, made the decision to withdraw from the 2024 Uber Cup to prioritize her recovery and preparation for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.
The top women’s doubles pair, Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand and Ashwini Ponnappa/Tanisha Crasto, also chose to withdraw from the Uber Cup due to a desire to focus on other tournaments aimed at securing Olympic qualification.
In light of this withdrawal, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) has decided to give another player a chance to play for India in the Uber Cup 2024 .
“Sindhu chose to withdraw because he had just returned from injury and he wanted to give himself enough time to prepare for the Paris Olympics where he hopes to win another medal for the country,” said BAI Secretary Sanjay Mishra as quoted by the Times of India .
“The doubles players also decided to skip the event as they have also played a lot of tournaments and want to focus on the Olympic qualifying matches.”
“So, we’ve given the national championship semifinalists a chance by having them on the team.”
Meanwhile, Thomas Cup team India enters the upcoming Thomas Cup with the title of defending champions, after achieving a historic win in 2022.
The selection team has carefully assembled a strong squad to strike a balance between youth and experienced strength.
The Indian men’s team etched their mark on badminton history at the 2022 Thomas Cup by achieving
an impressive 3-0 win over a tough Indonesian team in the final. This result is India’s first title in the Thomas Cup.
In preparation for the tournament, the selection team has chosen to strengthen the singles sector in recognition of the busy schedule the players faced earlier this year in the fight for Olympic qualification points.
The 10-member squad for India’s Thomas Cup team consists of five singles players, including Kiran George along with his stalwarts HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth and Priyanshu Rajawat.
Apart from that, Sai Pratheek is the reserve doubles player after the main pair of world number one Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty, and MR Arjun/Dhruv Kapila.
Final squad decisions for the Thomas Cup have been reached following a comprehensive online selection meeting.
This esteemed panel includes India’s National Head Coach , Pulella Gopichand, former India badminton players , U Vimal Kumar, Jwala Gutta, Manjusha Kanwar, Partho Ganguly, and Mallika Baruah Sarma.
“The committee felt we needed to add one more player in singles, while in doubles they selected the top two pairs and Sai Pratheek was selected as the additional doubles player.”
“This decision was made after consulting with the doubles coach, Mathias Boe (Denmark) in case any player was not fully fit or needed recovery,” said Mishra.
For the Uber Cup, the selection team decided to give young players the opportunity to catch up with the top singles and top doubles players who chose to withdraw.
Anmol Kharab (17 years old) who impressed at the 2024 Asian Team Championships will be the sole supporter along with Ashmita Caliha and Tanvi Sharma.
“The Uber Cup team also looks good with talented young players. I wish them all the best and hope they will make the nation proud with their performance.”
(Tunggal) HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Priyanshu Rajawat and Kiran George
(Ganda) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, MR Arjun, Dhruv Kapila and Sai Pratheek
Uber Cup India Squad
(Tunggal) Anmol Kharb , Tanvi Sharma, Ashmita Caliha and Isharani Baruah;
(Ganda) Shruti Mishra, Priya Konjengbam, Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker