Thomas Cup playoff: Thailand nix India’s hopes

Sourabh Verma

India’s below-average performance at the Thomas Cup preliminaries continued on Friday as they were defeated by Thailand in a playoff match. The result would count as a big disappointment for the team, for they were expected to win or at least be competitive. The eventual 3-2 margin wasn’t as close as it suggested, for the tie was decided by the fourth match.

China and Japan emerged top of the heap in both the men’s and women’s. While the Chinese men continued to motor on merrily, this time past Indonesia in a 3-0 rout, Japan too won by a similar score against Malaysia. World No.1 Lee Chong Wei and star doubles pair Koo/ Tan stayed away from the action, perhaps to avoid risk of injury with the London Olympics on the horizon, and the second string team was no match for the Japanese.

The Chinese were of course ruthlessly efficient both sections, for they registered a 3-0 win over Chinese Taipei in the Uber Cup and over Indonesia in the Thomas Cup. Chen Long led the charge for China over old rivals Indonesia, besting Taufik Hidayat 21-13 21-8 in a little over half-an-hour. Chen Jin made it 3-0 with a 21-14 21-8 victory over Tommy Sugiarto.

The Indians would do well to do some soul-searching before their next tie. Thailand and India are evenly balanced on paper, and India should have had the upper hand because Thailand’s top singles player Boonsak Ponsana is past his best days. Ponsana, however, managed to hold off P Kashyap in a three-game match that lasted nearly an hour. The veteran doubles player Sudket and Songphon survived a three-setter against Rupesh/ Sanave to make it 2-0 for the Thais. New national champion Sourabh Verma, who has barely seen any action in this campaign, took on Suppanyu and showed how he could be beaten. The second doubles however again went Thailand’s way, before Sai Praneeth gave some respectability to the score with a 21-15 14-21 21-7 verdict over Pakkawat.