India, Gopichand look to salvage pride

India, Gopichand look to salvage pride
AGENCIES

KUALA lUMPUR, MAY 13: Outplayed by European powerhouse Denmark in their opening rubber, India will hope to salvage some pride in their second league outing of the Thomas Cup badminton championship against Malaysia here on Sunday.

The formidable Malaysia are themselves struggling to come to terms with their shocking 2-3 reverse against Korea, but a depleted India can at best only hope to cause ripples.

Despite the problems faced by the hosts, whose singles players failed to click against the strong Koreans, a win looks remote for India, drubbed 0-5 by Denmark after offering hardly any fight in the absence of India No 3 Abhinn Shyam Gupta and doubles specialist Vincent Lobo.

But four-time National champion Pulella Gopichand will play for personal pride and showcase his ability to take on world class opponents. Having qualified for the September Sydney Olympic Games, the World number 36 will hope to provide some spark and inspire India to put up a keen fight.

Having succumbed 1-15, 6-15 to World No 1 Peter-Gade Christensen, the 27-year-old India No 1 will be under pressure to improve his performance which was the cornerstone in India landing a place among the top eight teams in the world after a gap of 12 years as they came through the zonals.

None of the Indians, barring Sidharth Jain who took Kenneth Jonassen to extra points in his straight games loss in the third singles, managed to win even 10 points in a game in that demoralising encounter against the Danes. It will be a fight for survival for Malaysia, who will be looking for a big win to keep alive their hopes of reaching the semifinals.

Although India conceded Malaysia are just too tough for them but team leader Dilip Ghosh said his team was determined not to make it easy for the host and had self-belief to look for a point however arduous a task it may be.

``Frankly, it is almost impossible to beat Malaysia and all we want now is just to get a point,'' said Ghosh. ``That itself would be an achievement for us.''

A defeat to either team will dash their dream of making the semifinals.

In allowing South Korea to win on Friday, Malaysia relived the history of 1992 where they had lost to the same team at the same stage but went on to win the title.

For Malaysia the challenge would be not to allow a repeat of 1984 when they were edged 3-2 by England and beaten 5-0 by Indonesia which saw them failing to make the last four for the first time on home ground.

India may not be in same class as Malaysia but dropping a game could be costly as that may see the hosts lose out a place in knock-out if semifinal spots are decided on countback.

Ghosh said he would field an unchanged side with Gopichand, Nikhil Kanetkar and Jain playing the singles.

``They are under pressure, much more than us and this could come to our advantage,'' he added.

Malaysia might replace Ong Ewe Hock, who lost the deciding game against Lee Hyun Il with Rashid Sidek or Yong Hock Kin.

Indonesia shut-out England
Defending champions Indonesia on Saturday scored an easy win in their second Thomas Cup tie in Group B when they edged out England without much fuss at the Putra stadium here.

The Indonesian shuttlers looked unbeatable as they carved victory after victory against the hapless Englishmen. Indonesia was leading 3-0, in a best of five format tie, within 2 hours and 20 minutes of start of the tie.

World number two Hendrawan was again in great form as he sprayed the court with some unbelievable strokes to win 15-8, 15-12 against Colin Haughton. Hedrawan had some problems in the second game when he was down 6-11 at one stage, but thereafter some long rallies punctured Haughton's stamina. Once Hendrawan had caught up at 11-11 it was only a matter of time.

Chief coach Christian Hadinata praising his player, said ``Hendrawan is a solid player. He is hard working, not flamboyant, but he gets the results.'' Hendrawan has only one Grand Prix title to his credit -- the Singapore Open in 1998 but he is also the losing finalist at Asian Games 1998 and the Japanese Open this year.

Indonesia's top ranked doubles pair Tony Gunawan-Chandra Wijaya took just 35 minutes to take the champions to 2-0 after they beat Simon Archer-Nathan Robertson 15-12, 15-5. This set the stage for the youngest player in this Thomas Cup, 19-year-old Taufique Hidayat, hailed by most badminton followers as the new Rudy Hartono in making, to play the second singles against Mark Constable, whom the teenager smashed away to an easy 15-6, 15-5 win.