Will history repeat itself?

The last time India qualified for the final round of Thomas Cup was in 1988. If the Indian men play to potential they have a good chance to make the grade this time, writes PRAKASH PADUKONE.

BIG TIME badminton returns to India after a long gap. The last big tournament held in the country was the World Cup in 1993 in Delhi, where all top players took part. New Delhi's Indira Gandhi Stadium plays host to yet another major badminton event, the Asian leg of the Thomas/ Uber Cup 2000 to be played from February 13 to 20. Fourteen teams have confirmed participation in the Thomas Cup, the symbol of supremacy in the Men's team event and ten in the women's section.

Before analysing the strengths and weaknesses of the participating teams, it is imperative that we know the format and also a brief history of the Thomas/ Uber Cup. It is held every alternate year in two stages. In the first stage, the preliminaries are held at two venues in February - one in Europe and one in Asia. This time the venues are Sofia (Bulgaria) and New Delhi (India). All the member countries of the International Badminton Federation have the option of selecting the venue of their choice. It is not necessary that a country has to play in the same continent where the event is being held. For example, a European country can choose to compete in New Delhi, even though the European leg is being played in Sofia. Similarly an Asian country can compete in Sofia even though the Asian leg is being played in Delhi.

The second stage or the Final Rounds of the Thomas/ Uber Cup are held in May and this time it will be played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In all, eight teams will take part in the Final Rounds consisting of three teams each from the two preliminary venues, the holder of the previous Thomas/ Uber Cup and the hosts. The matches are played on a league-cum- knock-out basis with each tie consisting of three singles and two doubles. Indonesia, as the holder of the Thomas Cup and China as the Uber Cup holder plus Malaysia as the host will get direct entries for the final rounds in May this year apart from the six qualifiers.

Let us now analyse the teams taking part in the men's section in New Delhi. China obviously starts as the favourite to qualify as the top team from this zone as it has both depth and experience to attain that position. Korea is also a strong contender to qualify for the Final Rounds behind China mainly due to its strength in doubles. However its singles will cause some concern. It has not been able to produce good singles players of world class and this remains the weak point even today. The slot for the remaining position is wide open and it could be one of the teams from Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Japan or India.

Chinese Taipei has in its ranks a dependable player in Fung Permadi, who is currently ranked No. 9 in the World. But apart from him the other players are beatable. But the Indians do not have to worry about Chinese Taipei or Thailand in the initial stages as both these teams are in different groups. The immediate concern for the hosts would be Japan and Korea. Our opening tie on Feb. 16 is against Japan and this will be a crucial encounter as a victory in the opening match will ensure that we qualify for the semi-finals stage at least as the second team from the group. That would be the initial target for the Indians. Of course one cannot take Singapore or Australia for granted but if we play to our potential, it should be possible to put it across both these teams. However we need to guard against any kind of complacency or over confidence. In fact there is an outside chance that we can even get the better of the mighty Koreans if we are able to win all the three singles. However it is to be noted that even if we manage to beat Korea we will only enter the semi final stage as the top team and this does not guarantee a place in the final round as we will still have to win one more tie in the semi final stage to qualify. In short, it is possible for our Men's team to qualify for the final rounds at least as the third team but it will not be easy. At the same time it is not impossible either.

Our main hope in the men's continues to be Gopi Chand. He will have a crucial role to play as he will be playing the first singles for us. A victory in the opening match would give a lot of confidence and hope to his teammates who are all quite young and energetic. Our strength as usual will be in the singles. The coaches attached with this team have put in a lot of effort and hard work in fine tuning the doubles combinations which is likely to result in better performance from the doubles pairs. On the distaff side the scene is not so bright. It will be a tough task for our girls to qualify. But in the recent past our girls have also shown that they are no push-overs and cannot be taken lightly especially after their spirited performance in the Commonwealth Games in 1998 where they won a team bronze. In fact with a bit of luck our girls could have won even the Gold Medal in the Team event. They lost out in the tie-breaker after England, Malaysia and India had shared the same number of victories.

National champion Aparna Popat will have to lead the challenge in the women's section. Our Uber Cup team has a good blend of youth and experience. Manjusha Kanwar and Neelima Choudary have the experience to trouble the established stars. B. R. Meenakshi, Jwala and Shruti Kurien are the youngsters in the team and all three of them are making their debut in the Uber Cup. Meenakshi has had a good domestic season but it will be interesting to see how she would perform at the next level if given a chance. Our Doubles strength comes from Madhumita Bisht, Archana Deodhar and P.V.V. Lakshmi.

The last time India qualified for the final rounds was in 1988 just before my retirement from competitive badminton. It remains to be seen whether history will repeat itself after a gap of 12 years for the Asian zone venue at that time was Indira Gandhi Stadium, New Delhi and subsequently the final rounds were played in Kuala Lumpur, which is also the venue this time.

It will be a very creditable achievement if we are able to qualify for the Inter Zonals.

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