The Indian men’s badminton team, reigning silver medallists, start against Bangladesh but could run into Japan in the quarterfinals of the Team event at the Asian Games.
Lakshya Sen will need to overcome Kodai Naraoka and Ayush needs to down Yushi Tanaka, even as Satwik-Chirag will be up against Hoki-Kobayashi if India need to advance.
It could be China / Korea thereafter in semis, as India, Japan, China and Korea were drawn in the same side of the half. Malaysia, Indonesia, HK and Taiwan are slotted into the other half.
Indian men had lost the gold, 3-2 to China last year, but might run into them in semis itself this time around. Japan however could be a tough proposition in slow courts with World’s silver medallist Kodai.
Japan in quarters potentially for women
The Indian women’s team start out against Kazakhstan and could run into second seed Japan straight away. That’s potentially, Akane Yamaguchi vs PV Sindhu and Unnati Hooda vs Tomoka Miyazaki. Treesa Jolly – Gayatri Gopichand will be tested against the top Japanese pair in home conditions.
Korea could potentially line up for semis — a tough prospect with An Se-young and their World Championships gold medallist Baek Ha Na and Lee So-hee.
China vs Thailand in quarters is assured with byes for both in the other half.
India’s only womens team medal came in 2014 at Incheon with Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Ashwini Ponappa-Sikki Reddy. India had downed Thailand 3-2 in a thriller then, but lost 1-3 to Korea in semis.