Uber Cup 2024 Highlights: India beat Singapore 4-1 to qualify for QF; Isharani, Anmol, doubles pairs register wins

Looks like it's a rest for Lakshya Sen. HS Prannoy, Satwik-Chirag, Srikanth Kidambi, Dhruv-Arjun retain their places. Kiran George slots in for the third singles tie. England's strength is their doubles, so Satwik-Chirag face the toughest test on paper against a pair they know well in Ben Lane and Sean Vendy. 

WS1: Ashmita Chaliha 15-21 18-21 Yeo Jia Min
WD1: Priya Konjengbam – Shruti Mishra 21-15 21-16 Xiao En Heng – Jin Yu Jia
WS2: Isharani Baruah 21-13 21-16 Insyirah Khan
WD2: Simran Singhi – Ritika Thaker 21-8 21-11 Yi Ting Elsa Lai – Zan Michelle
WS3: Anmol Kharb 21-15 21-13 Lee Xin Yi Megan

Shruti Mishra quote via BAI:

"It was a very important match, because if we won this tie we would qualify for sure (to the quarterfinals). So there was a bit of pressure. But the pressure was in a good way. We all are together and it was a great match. Even though Ashmita lost, she gave her best. We are happy about that and it was our turn to give our best. Yesterday was our first match. So we weren’t that confident. Today we were more confident. The side courts have a little bit of drift. Our court was all right."

It's official. China & India qualify for the quarterfinals from Group A after both sides won their first two matches against Canada and Singapore. China defeated both of them 5-0, while India won 4-1. India vs China, on Tuesday, to decide top spot. Good work by the young Indians to make it out of the group. 

She didn;t win today but Ashimita Chaliha set the tone yesterday with a huge win against Michelle Li. She had told BWF later, “The main players weren’t playing, and the feeling was that the Uber Cup team wasn’t strong, with only junior players. But it was a great opportunity for all the juniors as well, because they would get a lot of experience from this, and I told my teammates to play their best, that we had to give everything every day we were on court.”

And today, the Indian team have made sure they will not just return after the Group stage. 

Anmol Kharb continues her good habit of winning the 5th match. Irrespective of who China decides to field on Tuesday though, the youngster will face the BIGGEST test of her young career yet then. Will be great to see how she fares. As things stand though, a fine weekend for the Indian women's team who have done well in the absence of the big names to win two matches. 

INDIA WIN THE TIE 4-1: Chants of Bharat Mata ki Jai as the young Indian squad makes it two wins out of two to all but qualify for the quarterfinals. Anmol Kharb continues her run of winning 5th matches in team ties. Her, and India's, biggest test will come in their next match on Tuesday as they will take on overwhelming favorites China on Tuesday to determine the top spot in the group. 

A big booming smash from Anmol and she has 8 match points. Possibly the longest rally of the match follows, as Megan plays a nice winner to Anmol's backhand side. 

Some fantastic defence from Megan to stay alive in the rally and prevent Anmol from getting a handful of match points. Probably delaying the inevitable but this hasn't been too easy for Anmol... 

One of the longer rallies of the match so far and eventually Megan's backhand finds the net. Anmol just having to stay solid, nothing spectacular needed. 

Anmol is bouncing around on the court now. A lovely inside-out smash winner followed by a nice net exchange and she takes a huge lead into the mid-game interval. The finish line in sight for India in this tie. 

Anmol has made Megan do a couple of splits in the last few points, beating the Singaporean with her angles. 

It wasn't the cleanest of starts from Anmol but she has done enough to take the opening game 21-15. Much better energy about her in the 2nd half of the opening game. India looking good for another 4-1 win. 

There's the Anmol we have come to expect. Nice rally, ends with a lovely backhand winner at the net and a roar as she turns around to her bench. She is back in control. 

Very lackluster start from Anmol here, not quite playing with the energy we have come to see from her. Not much riding on the tie, no real pressure to win, and Anmol perhaps starts as favourite so all that playing a part maybe. But she does close the gap down to 2 now from 5-9. 

“I played well at the Badminton Asia Team Championships and expectations from me are high,” said Kharb. “But over there the courts were slow and favourable to me, but here there’s a drift so it was difficult for me to play. The next match will be easier because I’m now used to it," Anmol told BWF on Saturday. 
“I was very happy although our main players weren’t here because I’ll be playing senior players, and meeting my favourite players like Tai Tzu Ying, who’s my idol. I’m happy I got the chance.”

Not much separating the two players on the world rankings. Anmol is 258, Megan in 207. But Anmol has been beating players ranked much higher consistently this year in the team events. 

She wakes at 5 am, trains at the boxers den for an hour, has breakfast and then sleeps in the car during the hour and half commute. “She’s learnt to sleep anywhere. On staircases at tournaments, in the car, she can switch on and off as she likes,” her mother says.

Anmol rarely switched off in Malaysia playing the fifth rubber. She might not have the most killer smash yet, but the consistency and accuracy under pressure was awe-striking for a 17-year-old. Coach Pullela Gopichand could be heard conveying to her how the Chinese were slowing things down, and how she had to see through the deception. She didn’t need telling twice.

Her Noida coach Kusum Singh, who herself began in a village in Alwar, says the young woman has built herself an intimidating presence in training though she’s jovial and friendly. “She will challenge every boy she spars against and taunt them for being ‘naazuk’ if they slacken. If someone nicks points off her, she says ‘match mein dekh lungi tujhe’. She has no fear,” she says.

Read more here.

INDIA CLINCH THE TIE: Simran-Ritika seal the match and tie. Well done to the young Indian women's team who have effectively assured themselves of a place in the quarterfinals in the absence of all the big guns. Defeated Canada in Match 1, and now defeated Singapore in Match 2. (Of course China must beat Canada later in the day and it will confirm the quarterfinals spots for India and China)

The Singaporean teenagers with a good little run to close the gap down to 9-11 but the Indians recover quickly to reestablish a big lead. 

The Indian duo not taking foot off the pedal, staying well ahead in the 2nd game too at the interval. Reminder that the 5th match will be played in this tie irrespective of the result in this match, so you will get to see Anmol Kharb in action again. 

Simran with a winner crosscourt and it is a comfortable win for the Indians in the opening game. 

One of the better rallies of the match but Simran with a nice winner off her backhand down the middle from the net to keep India firmly in control.

Comfortable lead for Simran and Ritika here as players head for the mid-game interval. 

In case you are wondering, why India are fielding a new-look team here, from our preview: “Sindhu informed the selectors that due to back-to-back tournaments leading up to the Olympics, she and her team have decided to skip the Uber Cup to prepare for the Olympics Top doubles pairs also cited similar reasons and, since it is not a full-strength team, they also pulled out. The selectors then decided to go ahead with young players who have done well recently at the National Championships,” BAI had said in a statement while announcing the squad.

Strong start for the Indians here, asserting their dominance nice and early over the teenagers. 

Time for Simran Singhi – Ritika Thaker vs Yi Ting Elsa Lai – Zan Michelle. The Singaporeans are 2005-born & 2007-born, two teenagers ranked just inside the top 1000. The Indians lost their match against Canada yesterday rather tamely, can they seal the deal here today? 

INDIA INTO THE LEAD: Isharani Baruah delivers in WS2 for the 2nd day in a row. Today, a much more comfortable outing than the challenge she faced from a top-50 player yesterday. She has put India one win away potentially from the knockout stages 

Getting a little bit ahead of herself perhaps. Isharani with a couple of wild misses either side of Khan and the bench is trying to get her going with chants of let's go, India. 

Seven match points for Isharani. 

The half smash to Isharani's left once again proving useful for Khan. The Indian's style is a lot like Akane but the defensive skills still need a lot of polishing. 

There have not been too many of these, a good 1-2 combo from Khan as she goes for the smash to Isharani's backhand and then plays a nice winner crosscourt at the net. 

Its one-way traffic at the moment as Isharani is dictating play. 

After some frustration at the start of game 2, Isharani back in control. A nice backhand lunge at the net to deal with a drop shot and once again Khan sends the shuttle long. DK Sen and Gurusaidutt have a quick word with her at the interval, looking good for the win. 

Isharani with a fist pump as she hits a nice body smash winner, just a release of the frustration that was building up. She is back into the lead shortly after. 

A few errors at the start of the second game from the Indian. When she made these errors in game 1, she was already in the lead. Must be careful to not put herself under scoreboard pressure here. Khan getting much more for her shots from the near side, playing downward more often. 

An easy put away at the net for Isharani Baruah and she takes the opening game against Khan rather comfortably. It's been a solid outing so far for the 20-year-old from Assam. Can she close this out in straight games and put India in the lead?

Khan has struggled with getting her length right on the backcourt. Handful of game points for Isharani. 

Comfortably ahead now, Isharani. 

Former Olympian Dipankar Bhattacharjee from Assam, is widely considered to have started the jump smash trend. But in women’s singles, the enigmatic Krishna Dekaraja, while she still competed just before Saina Nehwal arrived on the scene, can be said to have brought the power game and smashes into the WS mix. But even she didn’t jump, just naturally torqued her shoulder and back for the big hit. Ashmita and Isharani, having watched Yamaguchi do it so often, grew up playing the jump smash full-throttle. (By Shivani Naik)

Just a shaky little period for Isharani here as she is letting errors creep in and the her opponent crawl back. The gap down to 2 at 12-10 but she recovers quickly enough to go up by 5. 

Looked like Isharani would go to the interval with a handy lead but Khan closes the gap down a bit. The Indian does take a 4-point advantage as Khan sends a shuttle long. 

Really solid start from Isharani to this match. Here's what former India international Shlok had to say about her yesterday.

Another match where India start the tie as favourites going by the ranking gap. Isharani is just over 50 places ahead of Insyirah Khan, the 22-year-old. This is their first meeting. 

...it has unmissable influences of Akane Yamaguchi. Turns out, she is a fan after all. "Yamaguchi is my role model, I just love her game. She is also not tall but makes her opponents run around the court. I watch all her matches and try to play her strokes," she told PTI. 

The jump drop mixed with the leaping clears are slowly gentrifying Isharani Baruah’s wild, untamed, no-care-in-the world free jump smash. Big cities like Bangalore tend to do that, but perhaps the dashing teenager from Dibrugarh in Assam, needs the sophistication of mixing fast drops and half smashes and clears with the dizzy airborne smash, to sustain her badminton.

Isharani started with a comfortable straight sets win against Canada playing second singles in the Uber Cup where India has fielded a callow bunch of girls – not yet women – in the absence of PV Sindhu, who opted out. (Read more from Shivani Naik)

INDIA ON THE SCOREBOARD: Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra register a straight-games win to put India on the board for this tie. Good service return from Priya, and then Shruti puts away the shuttle from the net and a big roar to celebrate by the Indian duo. 

Some closing trouble here for the Indians. A couple of soft errors and the SGP pair close the gap to four. But a big roar as Priya and Shruti have 5 game points.

Shruti's turn from the front court to split the gap on the other side of the net by the middle. The Indians are three away from the win.

And the Indians are playing with a spring in their step here as the finish line comes in sight. A lovely slow drop from Shruti for a winner to put them up by 6 points. 

A flick serve from Xiao is read well by the Indians and this time Shruti makes no mistake from the net as she gives the  Indians a 3-point lead at the mid-game interval. 

Some pressure on the Indians now, as the rallies are getting longer. And Priya puts away another solid winner from the backcourt by splitting the gap on the other side. 

First real women's doubles-esque rally of the match really, a long exchange between the two pairs. Shruti misses out a kill at the net when she went for touch instead of power but eventually Priya powers through for the point, 7-5. But it is much closer in the second game now, all level at 7.

Some relentless attack from Priya at the back court, eventually sealing a point with a jump smash. The Indians have a solid lead here. Jin wants the shuttle changed perhaps to slow things down, but no can do, say the Indians and the umpire agrees.

Shruti puts away a good inside-out winner and the Indians take the opening game 21-15. Solid stuff, didn't have to do anything spectacular. They look the more coordinated, more aggressive pair out there. 

Well, well, Getting a little bit nervy for the Indians. A powerful smash from Jin closes the gap down to four... but the Indian duo do have 5 game points shortly after. 

Now it's an overeager kill from Shruti at the net as India miss a chance to earn a handful of game points. The Singaporeans just about staying alive here.

A nice whipped crosscourt winner from Jin and it's a run of three points for the Singaporeans now. A really good rally follows with Jin again doing bulk of the work but Shruti puts it away for a winner to end the mini run. Jin with an overeager kill next rally, and it goes long. 

It's been solid from the Indians post the interval too, they haven't taken the foot off the pedal. It's not been a typical women's doubles match, not much in terms of gruelling physical rallies.