India names full strength squad for Thomas Cup; PV Sindhu pulls out of Uber Cup

The core of the team that guided India to the unprecedented and historic Thomas Cup triumph two years back will be back again to defend the title this time around in Chengdu, China, from April 27 to May 5. HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Priyanshu Rajawat and the doubles combine of world No.1 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty and Dhruv Kapila/MR Arjun will look to do an encore of Bangkok 2022.

But the big news from the women’s set up is that PV Sindhu has pulled out of the Uber Cup to prepare for the Paris Olympics. India had defeated Malaysia, Denmark and holders Indonesia in the knockouts to claim their first medal – a gold – at the World Men’s Team Championships. The two changes in the men's squad of 10 has singles specialist Kiran George and Sai Pratheek, who will be the back-up doubles player. They will replace doubles pair Krishna Prasad Garaga/Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala.

"The senior selection committee decided to have more options in singles considering the hectic schedule of all players this season. With most of the top players going through a tough Paris Olympic qualification phase in the run up to Thomas Cup 2024, the selectors felt that it was important to have an additional singles player in the squad,” Badminton Association of India (BAI) said in a statement.

For Uber Cup, the selectors decided to give an opportunity to youngsters after both top singles and doubles players pulled out. Apart from Sindhu, top doubles pairs Tanisha Crasto/Ashwini Ponnappa and Treesa Jolly/P Gayatri Gopichand also withdrew citing similar reasons following which the selectors decided to go ahead with players who had done well at the National Championships.

Anmol Kharb, who had starred for India at the Badminton Asia Team Championships where India women clinched a maiden gold in February, will be leading the women’s team that will also have Tanvi Sharma, Ashmita Chaliha and Isharani Baruah. In doubles, India will be represented by Shruti Mishra/Priya Konjengbam and Simran Singhi/Ritika Thaker.

The final decision on the squad was taken after an online meeting of selectors comprising chief national coach Pulella Gopichand, former India stars U Vimal Kumar, Jwala Gutta, Manjusha Kanwar, Partho Ganguly and Mallika Baruah Sarma.

Thomas Cup squad

Singles: HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Priyanshu Rajawat and Kiran George

Doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, MR Arjun, Dhruv Kapila and Sai Pratheek

Uber Cup squad

Singles: Anmol Kharb, Tanvi Sharma, Ashmita Chaliha and Isharani Baruah

Doubles: Shruti Mishra, Priya Konjengbam, Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker