Incheon: Led by Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Parupalli Kashyap, India will aim to end a 28-year-old medal drought when they begin their campaign in the 17th Asian Games badminton with the team competitions here on Saturday.
India’s last medal of any hue in badminton had come in 1986 when the men’s team claimed bronze.
Ever since badminton made its debut in the Asiad in 1966, India have managed just seven bronze medals with Syed Modi being the only singles medalist in 1982 and chief coach Pullela Gopichand’s wards will be eager to end the wait.
The world number 10 PV Sindhu, will go into the tournament with her confidence high after clinching her second successive bronze medal in world championships.
Tipped to win the gold in the Commonwealth Games, Sindhu had to settle for a bronze at Glasgow but the Indian shrugged off the disappointment by winning another medal of the same hue in the Danish capital where she drew accolades by shocking World No. 2 Wang Shixian.
World No. 7 Saina, on the other hand, goes into the tournament with Vimal Kumar to guide her after she shifted base to Bangalore to train at the Prakash Padukone Academy where the latter is the chief coach.
India are going to field a scratch doubles combination in women’s event in the absence of Jwala Gutta, who had to pull out due to a knee injury.
Ashwini Ponnappa has showed her preference for Sindhu as her doubles partner, but it will put huge pressure on the lanky 19-year-old Hyderabadi after her singles.
The women have an easy first round against Chinese Macao but face a tougher challenge against Thailand which will be spearheaded by former world champion Ratchanok Inthanon.
“It is going to a tough event. We haven’t won many medals in the past but we have done well in the last two tournaments in CWG and the World Championship. So we hope that we will get good performances in the Asian Games also,” Gopichand said.
Badminton team event in the Asian Games will have the same format as it was during the Thomas and Uber Cup featuring three singles and two doubles each.
