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Indian men predictably won 4-1 against Australia, the women lost 4-1 not-so-predictably to the dogged Koreans in their final group games of the Thomas & Uber Cup. But both will cluck their tongues in anticipation at what the draw has thrown up, after being pitted against favourites for their quarterfinals on Wednesday at the Stadium Putra in Malaysia.
Indian men meet Indonesia a second time in three days after going down 4-1 to them in the group stages, while the women would run into formidable China in the Last Eight.
Against Australia, an off-day for doubles specilaists Rupesh Kumar-Sanave Thomas meant India won 4-1 with the three singles players P Kashyap, Guru Saidutt and Aravind Bhat winning with ease. V Diju-Akshay Dewalkar too stayed solid in their straight-sets wins.
Saina Nehwal started slowly against Korean top player Seung Hee Bae, but dominated the net to counter-attack every time her opponent threatened to break away winning 22-20 18-21 17-21 in a hard-fought opening singles. Her net-winners (28 against the power-smashing Korean's 14) proved decisive as she shrugged off the 22-20 setback to break free from the 15-15 skirmish she was caught in the second set.
India's World No 6 again employed her strength on the fore-court with dribbles to take a 16-9 lead, and keep the Korean at bay.
After Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa failed to dent Korea's strong first doubles fortress, Aditi Mutatkar went down fighting. Shruti Kurien-Aparna Balan offered marginally better resistance than the first pair, but India were soon 3-1 down, with Sayali Gokhale coming in to play the final singles. The former national champion - vastly improved in her strength - might have earned a chance to play the Chinese tomorrow after her 21-10, 19-21, 21-12 loss, stretching the Korean into the decider, though the toss-up will be with Trupti Murgunde, an experienced campaigner.
The Chinese women have not dropped a single game and scored more than 70 per cent of the points in all their matches played making them a fearsome unit to counter in the quarters. However, Indians should start out with no pressure, and make the most of this chance of matching wits against China's might, with Yihan Wang, Xin Wang, Yanjiao Jiang and Shixian Wang presenting the strongest front in singles.
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