INDIA qualified to the quarter-finals of the Sudirman Cup, thanks to their performance against Indonesia who despite their win over Denmark failed to make it to the knockouts.
Number of games won by Indonesia were less as compared to India and Denmark and therefore the 6 times runners-up ended their campaign.
India displayed a clinical performance against the Indonesians but can they carry the same momentum and do the same against China will be the question on the minds of the fans.
Following are the reasons why India need to be cautious for their quarter-final tie against the mighty Chinese.
It is quite evident that the complete domination of China in badminton has come down since Rio Olympics but only to some extent, mainly seen in the women's singles category. Let's keep the general discussion over it aside for now and focus only on the two teams in question, India and China.
The Chinese have bagged the most number of Sudirman Cup titles (10), no surprises there! They have won from the years 1995-2015 with one runners-up title in 2003.
Now let's take a look at the squad that both teams have: China have fielded 19 shuttlers that includes 9 among the male shuttlers and 10 among the women while India have 12 in which 7 among the men and 5 among the women respectively.
China have way more shuttlers in the top 20 in all categories as compared to India. And most of the them are part of the squad sent to Sudirman. Lin Dan, Chen Long, Shi Yuqi are equally a threat to Indians Ajay Jayaram and Kidambi Srikanth. But one can't ignore the fact that Indians don't have the potential to pull a surprise.
Same is the case with all categories, if China have two to three options, India have only one. Specially in women's singles, PV Sindhu is the lone experienced shuttler who will be fielded against either Sun Yu, He Bingjiao or Chen Yufei, all similar faces for the Indian.
Even if the men's and women's singles could be handled by India, the threat still loops around the doubles category. Where the powerhouse pairs of China won't make it easy for the Indian youngsters. India are likely to field Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy, taking into consideration the experience factor but in the recent past they haven't been performing at their best.
Women's and mixed doubles category pairs can put up a tough fight but are also likely to fall short.
No matter what, China does pose a threat and taking into consideration all the factors they will be the favourites to win the tie and reach closer to their 11th Sudirman Cup.
Pressure will be on India, but if can they pull this off, it will be the biggest upset and a great boost for India. The tie will be played on Friday 26th May.