Likely Matchups in Thomas Cup – India vs Germany
Lakshya Sen [9] vs Max Weisskirchen [64]
Game 1- Lakshya Sen vs Weisskirchen LIVE: Lakshya Sen wins the first set 21-16 against Max Weisskirchen. He came firing all the cylinders against the German opponent to ensure a terrific start for India. Lakshya started off proceedings with 6-0 but Weisskirchen made it evenly poised at 13-14 but the India Open champion came out on top.
- Kidambi Srikanth [11] vs Kai Schaefer [84]
- HS Prannoy [23] vs Matthias Kicklitz [463]
- Rankireddy- Shetty vs Jansen- Seidel
- Arjun-Kapila vs Geiss- Voelker
First Singles: Lakshya Sen vs Max Weisskirchen
India’s men’s singles top seed Lakshya Sen is likely to face Max Weisskirchen. 20-year old Lakshya has put in some terrific performances this year. He won the Indian Open title this year and finished as runner-up in the German Open and All England Championship.
Meanwhile, World No.54 Weisskirchen, hasn’t gone past the second round in any of the tournament this year. He enters Thomas Cup after facing second round exit in the European Championships. Lakshya Sen will be the overwhelming favourite against Weisskirchen.
Second Singles: Kidambi Srikanth vs Kai Schafer
World No.11 Kidambi Srikanth, who has had a decent year so far will most likely meet Kai Schafer, who is the second best-ranked player in Germany squad. He is currently ranked 82nd in the world. Srikanth will be the overwhelming favourite in this contest.
Third Singles: HS Prannoy / Priyanshu Rajawat vs Matthias Kicklitz
Samuel Hsiao, who has a world ranking of 202 will be playing the third singles for Germany. India will either make HS Prannoy play this contest or can even give an opportunity to Priyanshu Rajawat, who is the fourth singles player for India, having a world ranking of 85. Both the Indians will be the favourites in the contest.
Thomas & Uber Cup LIVE: Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth & PV Sindhu headline India’s action in first group match – Follow Thomas & Uber Cup LIVE updates
Doubles:
In the doubles, Mark Lamfuss and Marvin Seidel, who have recently won the European Championship and are ranked 13th in the world, will face India’s Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.
The Indo-German pair had already met earlier this year at All England Championships, where the Indians won the game 21-7, 21-7. Going into the contest, the Indians will once again be the favourites.
In the second doubles, India’s MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila are likely to face Jan Colin Volker and Bjarne Geiss.
Thomas & Uber Cup LIVE: Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth & PV Sindhu headline India’s action in first group match – Follow Thomas & Uber Cup LIVE updates
UBER CUP 2022:
Coming to the Uber Cup, PV Sindhu leads a depleted Indian team that misses the services of the experienced Saina Nehwal as well as the men’s doubles pair Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy, who withdrew from the tournament due to an injury to the latter. Gayatri Gopichand too misses out after nursing hip injury.
First Singles: PV Sindhu vs Michelle Li
World No.7 PV Sindhu will most likely face Michelle Li in the women’s singles. Sindhu has been in a good form this year, having won the Syed Modi International Title, Swiss Open as well as winning the bronze medal at the Asian Championship.
Both these players already faced once during the Swiss Open, where Sindhu defeated Li 21-10, 21-19 to seal a spot in the semifinals. Sindhu once again enters the contest as the favourite.
Second Singles: Aakarshi Kashyap vs Wen Yu Zhang
In the second Singles, India’s Aakarshi Kashyap is expected to face 77th ranked Wen Yu Zhang. Zhang has reached the semifinals at Orleans Masters this year and also reached the finals at Ukraine Open. Meanwhile, 54th ranked Kashyap hasn’t had much success this year, apart from reaching the quarterfinal at Syed Modi International and semifinals at India Open. Aakarshi Kashyap is expected to fight it out against the Canadian.
Third Singles: Ashmitha Chaliha vs Talia Ng
64th ranked Ashmitha Chaliha is likely to face Talia Ng in the third singles. Chaliha reached the semifinals at Odisha Open this year and also made it to the quarterfinals at Indian Open. She is looking to get back to form and against 81st ranked Ng. Ng started the year by winning the Uganda International. However, she will face a big challenge from the Indian in the upcoming contest.
Doubles: In the women’s doubles, Canada will have the 21st ranked Kristen Tsai and Rachel Honderich who will be the favourites against 82nd ranked Simran Sanghi and Ritika Thaker, The Indian duo came in as replacement to Ponnappa-Sikki Reddy pair and lacks experience.
Meanwhile, India’s second doubles pair cannot be named at the moment as it remains to be seen whether Treesa Jolly pairs up with Tanisha Crasto or Shruti Mishra gets paired with any one of the two players. Canada meanwhile will play 54th ranked Catherine Choi and Josephine Wu. In th doubles Canada will be the favourites.