Top three Indian performers at the Thomas and Uber Cup 2020

These players showed some spark in the tournament.

The Indian men's and women's badminton teams were disappointed after their early knockout exits in the Thomas and Uber Cup 2020. While the women's team were short-handed due to two-time Olympics medallist PV Sindhu's unavailability, they also lost former world No. 1 Saina Nehwal due to injury in her first match. Hence the youngster did their best to pull through and they did a fair job in qualifying for the knockouts before crashing out of the Uber Cup against a strong outfit like Japan.

Coming into the Thomas and Uber Cup, experienced players like Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth once again flattered to deceive. The Indian doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty held their fort beautifully. It was fantastic to see two youngsters taking on different duos from the world and nailing them down. They won all their matches and were simply sensational but the Indian men's team lost against Denmark.

Here are the top three Indian performers from the Thomas and Uber Cup 2020:

3. Aditi Bhatt

The 18-year old talent got the chance to play in the Thomas and Uber Cup this time around. She was in great form winning her first match against Spain's youngster Ania Setien 21-16, 21-14. Bhatt has this ruthlessness in her play which does not allow the opponents any chance to attack. Next up, India took on Scotland and Bhatt continued her form as she defeated Rachel Sugden 21-14, 21-8 in straight games. It was great to see the youngster showing exceptional character in her strokeplay and leaving no stone unturned to win matches.

Then came the match which impressed everyone and showed what Bhatt is made of as India faced Thailand. She took on Olympian and world No. 13 Busanan Ongbamrungphan. Despite the grandeur of the challenge, it hardly had any effect on Aditi's play as she kept on hustling. While she lost the first game 16-21, she came roaring back into the match by winning the second one 21-18. Only to lose out the third game 15-21 in a 59-minute gruelling encounter. It was clear that Aditi needs to play more of these clashes. She also needs to work on her movements and hard smashes that will help her in the long run.

2. Tasnim Mir

Many feel that the young shuttler from Gujarat will succeed Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu for India on the global stage. Tasnim Mir was called into action after Saina Nehwal got injured in her first match of Thomas and Uber Cup against Spain's Clara Azurmendi. Hence the Indian team decided to field Tasnim Mir in her place for the following matches and the youngster did not disappoint. Mir started with a dominant win over Scotland's Lauren Middleton as she won 21-15, 21-6. She was a bit nervy at the start but as the match went on she got more and more comfortable.

However, she had a more difficult outing against world No. 33 Supanida Katethong. Despite the defeat, Mir fought all the way through and did not make life easy for the Thai shuttler. Ultimately she lost 19-21, 15-21. Although India made it through to the knockouts they lost the first three of their matches against Japan and after that, there was no point playing the other two. Hence Mir did not get any chance to face her Japanese counterpart in the quarterfinals. But she is definitely one of the brighter talents coming out of India and more tournaments like this will only improve her overall game.

1. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty

After their disappointment at the Tokyo Olympics, India's most dependable duo was keen to redeem themselves at the Thomas and Uber Cup. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were ready to roll as they really thought prior to the tournament that India had some chance of winning a medal. They started really strong with a very gruelling encounter against the top pairing from the Netherlands, winning 21-19, 21-12. Ruben Jille and Ties Van Der Lecq showed great heart and character to push the Indians back but they came up with answers every single time. Shetty and Rankireddy then crushed their opponents from Tahiti as India cruised through with a 5-0 scoreline against them.

They played pulsating badminton to win against the top Chinese duo of He Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong a score of 21-14, 21-14. This allowed India to come back in the game after Srikanth lost his respective match. Although India lost the overall encounter against China, the Indian duo stood tall and were the only winners. It was the same story in the quarterfinals as India took on hosts Denmark.

Rankireddy and Shetty were up against Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen in the quarters. They started attacking the Danish pair right from the start. Once again, it was India's doubles pairing who showed character and quality and won the first game 21-15. But the game was not over as the Danish came back to take the second game 17-21. The match lasted for an enervating 1 hour and 15 minutes but only after the Indian pair wrapped it up in the third game, winning 21-18.

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