“Once Satwik comes back, we’ll have a strong pair of doubles, and our singles have always been strong. Prannoy and Sindhu are also capable of beating anyone. So I think we have a decent chance of winning the Sudirman Cup,” Vimal, who was present when the men’s team won the Thomas Cup title last year, told PTI.
“Ladies’ doubles also showed a good level, especially Treesa and Gayatri beating the Malaysian top doubles (Tan Pearly and World No. 4 Thinaah Muralitharan) will give them a lot of confidence. We cannot say that it is too ambitious (winning the Sudirman Cup). We can. That’s exactly what we did in the Thomas Cup. We can keep hope after this performance.
After reaching the semi-finals of the continental championship, India also secured their place in the Sudirman Cup and nearly beat China in the semi-finals. In fact, it was a wasted opportunity as both singles players Sindhu and Prannoy lost their matches to relatively unknown Chinese players.
“It was a nice bronze medal. Although I’m a little disappointed because we had a good chance of beating China yesterday. It would have been nice to beat China. It’s the first time in history that we’ve come so close to beating them. We always struggled in the mixed team events,” said Vimal.
“Honourable performances in men’s and women’s doubles. I will give them lots of credit. They did a good job, unlike the singles. Normally our strength is singles, but even though Satwik couldn’t play, pairs doubles played well against Hong Kong and China. The female duo especially showed a marked improvement.
“It’s disappointing that singles lost, if one of them could have won it would have taken us to the final. Many Chinese players are injured, so they gave a chance to those guys who were injured during some time.
While all the doubles teams showed their potential, the singles was disappointing, not just in a match against China, but also against Hong Kong. “Prannoy was playing well so it was a bit disappointing. If he had taken the second game he could have found a way. He had no idea how to play as he was playing for the first time so he struggled .
“Sindhu was comfortably placed after the second game. After the injury, I think she struggled to vary the pace in rallies, when to push the pace and that let her down.
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