South Asian Games: India not carried away with clean sweep

India made a clean sweep of all badminton gold medals at the South Asian Games. But Punnaiah firmly believes the real test will come when the team competes in the Thomas and Uber Cups qualifiers in Bangkok later this month.

While Punnaiah was delighted with the showing in Dhakka, Bangladesh where India won all five individual titles and both team titles, competing against teams like Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Singapore will be the real test.

And with only the top four in the Thomas Cup and top three in the Uber Cup gaining automatic qualification to the Finals in Kuala Lumpur in May, India have to be at their very best.

“The results in the South Asian Games is very good for us, especially in the chase for the overall medal tally but our real test lies in the qualifiers for the Thomas and Uber Cups in Bangkok later this month,” said Punnaiah.

“Obviously the standard of our opponents in Dhakka and Bangkok will be vastly different; hence we must not be carried away with our results here.”

In the just concluded badminton competition in the South Asian Games, all five finals were an all-India affair, and the fact that India did not field many of their top players, shows the relatively easy field in Dhakka.

In the men’s singles, Chetan Anand beat R.M.V. Gurusaidutt 21-16, 21-8 to win the title while top seed Sayali Gokhale benefited from Trupti Murgunde retiring from her match in the second game at 3-8. Trupti lost the first game 21-16.

Chetan-V. Diju also conceded their men’s doubles match after losing the first game 19-21 to K.T Rupesh Kumar-Sanave Thomas and in the women’s doubles, Aparna Balan-Shruti Kurian won the women’s crown when they stopped P.C.Thulasi-Ashwini Ponnappa 21-19, 22-20.

In the mixed doubles, the title went to Diju-Ashwini. They beat Thomas-Aparna 21-11, 21-15.

India’s top women’s player Saina Nehwal and mixed doubles player Jwala Gutta did not play in Dhakka as it was the case with Arvind Bhat and Anup Sridhar. All four players have been named in the Indian squad for the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup qualifiers in Bangkok which begins on Feb 21.