Sixth seed India take on seventh seed Indonesia in the women's quarter-final of Badminton Asia Team Championships 2018 at Alor Setar in Malaysia on Friday, February 9.
The PV Sindhu-led Indian team progressed to the knockout stages of the tournament after finishing second in Group W, which was won by heavyweights Japan. The women's team defeated Hong Kong 3-2 in the first match after which they lost 4-1 to Japan despite the Rio Olympic silver medalist's win over world number two Akane Yamaguchi.
On the other hand, Indonesia stunned defending champions China 3-2 on Thursday and topped Group Z to book their spot in the last-eight round. Led by world number 29 women's singles star Fitriani Fitriani and in-form doubles pair of Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu, the Indonesian team clinched a famous win.
Qualified:
— Badminton Talk (@BadmintonTalk) February 8, 2018
Thomas Cup 2018:
1. Denmark
2. Thailand
3. China
4. Indonesia
5. Chinese Taipei
6. Australia
7. Japan
8. India
9. Korea
Uber:
1. China
2. Thailand
3. Japan
4. Korea
5. Chinese Taipei
6. Australia
7. India
8. Indonesia
9. Malaysia
10. Denmark#TUC2018 #BATC2018
Onus on Sindhu
In the absence of Saina Nehwal, who pulled out to focus on preparations for next month's All England Championships, the onus to deliver in the big match will be on Sindhu.
The 22-year-old world championships silver medalist will also pair up with Sanyogita Ghorpade for the second women's doubles clash on Friday. Notably, Sindhu has not lost a match yet in the ongoing tournament and should be favorites to clinch one, if not two points for the team.
Sindhu will take on Fitriani, whom she has defeated in all their three previous meetings, in the women's singles clash.
Ashwini, Sikki need to step up
The focus will also be on India's leading women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy as they face a stern test against Greysia and Apriyani, who have started the year on a high. The world number seven mixed doubles pairing have won the India Open and finished runners-up at Indonesia Master's and are the favorites against the Indian pair.
India will be well served if the likes of Sri Krishna Priya and Rutaparna Panda step up and deliver on the big day.
Order of play of India vs Indonesia women's quarter-final
The quarter-final tie will start at 8:30am local time, 6am IST, 12:30am GMT.
- Women's singles 1 - PV Sindhu vs Fitriani Fitriani
- Women's doubles 1 - Ashwini Ponnappa/Sikki Reddy vs Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu
- Women's singles 2 - Sri Krishna Priya vs Hanna Ramadini
- Women's doubles 2 - PV Sindhu/Sanyogita Ghorpade vs Anggia Shitta/Ni Ketut Mahadewi
- Women's singles 3 - Rutaparna Panda vs Gregoria Mariska
How to watch online and on TV
India: TV: DSport; Live streaming: Watch DSport; DSport on Jio TV, Airtel TV
Malaysia: TV: Astro Supersport 4; Live streaming: Astro Go
Live scores of all the matches can be found here.
