Badminton News: Instead, India returned to the Thomas Cup with essentially the same team that had served them so well during their historic run in Bangkok two years ago.

The core of the team remains the same: HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth in singles, and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty and Dhruv Kapila/Arjun MR in doubles.

However, the team will arrive in Chengdu with very different baggage.

Last year, HS Prannoy was in fine form, having won the Malaysia Masters, finished runner-up at the Australian Open and won bronze at the World Championships and Asian Games. But this year his health problems returned and he struggled on the HSBC BWF World Tour, with early eliminations in five of the six tournaments.

Lakshya Sen endured a nightmare in 2023 and early 2024 with early eliminations in 10 consecutive tournaments before regaining his form and confidence with semi-finals at the YONEX French Open and YONEX All England.

Kidambi's form has seen more lows than highs over the past year, with his best performance during this period being the semi-finals of the YONEX Swiss Open.

Depending on how the campaign goes, the third single could also go to young Priyanshu Rajawat, who was the baby of the team in the last over. Since then, Rajawat has proven himself at the elite level, winning his first Super 300 title last year in Orléans.

The men's doubles pair of Rankireddy/Shetty have gone from strength to strength since winning the Thomas Cup. With gold medals at the Asian Championships and Asian Games last year, and consistent participation in every tournament – ​​they have reached four consecutive World Tour finals in recent months – they are the spearhead of the 'team.

Injured sophomore pair Kapila/Arjun have struggled throughout 2023; this year they suffered defeats at the Malaysian Open and Indian Open before playing and winning the Uganda International Challenge. They had good results – winning the Orlen Polish Open and reaching the quarter-finals of the Spain Masters in March.

Overall, the Indians will find that retaining the title presents them with a tougher challenge than winning it, given their individual performances have been inconsistent ahead of Chengdu. However, while recent form may not be in the Indian team's favor, sometimes all it takes is a spark to light the fire of a team's friendship.

India made history by winning the Thomas Cup for the first time in its last edition. Can they become the fourth team to defend the title?

Article Tag: India, China, Indonesia, Thomas Cup 2024