Ninth seeds India face must-win situation when they take on sixth seeds Indonesia in their final Group 1D tie of 2017 Sudirman Cup in Gold Coast, Australia.
India lost their opening tie against number two seeds Denmark on Monday. Rio Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu was able to fetch the lone point for the group minnows as they were outclassed 4-1 by Viktor Axelsen-led European unit.
India will be hoping to seal the tie against Indonesia tomorrow and keep themselves alive in the competition. However, their doubles teams will have to punch above their weight if they are to stand a chance against the sixth-seeded team, who are relying heavily on their top-ranked doubles stars.
While Sindhu is likely to have another easy outing against possible Indonesian Women's singles candidate Fitriani Fitriani, whom she defeated in the semi-final of Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold earlier this year, India's Men's singles team has a better chance to snatch a point after Ajay Jayaram was blown away by Viktor Axelsen on Monday.
India face Sanjaya/Fernaldi threat
However, their Men's doubles pairing of Mannu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy have very little chance against world number one, in-form pairing of Kevin Sanjaya and Marcus Fernaldi, who will be leading Indonesia's campaign at the tournament.
The performance of India's Women's doubles pairing of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy in their valiant 21-18, 15-21, 21-23 loss to Rio silver medallists Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Juhl would give India a lot of confidence but the duo have to be at their best to stand a chance against higher-ranked Della Haris and Rosyita Sari of Indonesia.
Team News
India
Possible line-up: PV Sindhu (WS), Kidambi Srikanth (MS), Manu Attri/Sumeeth Reddy (MD), Sikki Reddy/Ashwini Ponappa (WD), Sikki/Pranaav Jerry (XD)
Indonesia
Possible line-up: Fitriani Fitriani (WS), Jonathan Christie (MS), Marcus Fernaldi/Kevin Sanjaya (MD), Della Haris/Rosyita Sari (WD), Praveen Jordan/Debby Susanto (XD)
