2008 Thomas & Uber Cup Asian Qualifying Rounds

Anup Sridhar led the Indian men’s team – which consisted of Arvind Bhat, Chetan Anand, Akshay Dewalkar, V. Diju, P. Kashyap, Rupesh Kumar, Sanave Thomas and J.B.S. Vidyasagar – to a fifth place finish at the Thomas Cup Asian qualifying round held at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 19^th – 24^th Feb.

Being the top ranked Indian player, Anup consistently played against higher ranked opponents. His big win came in the last tie against Hong Kong where he beat World No. 19 Yan Kit Chan.

A summary of his matches:

League match against Pakistan:
Anup Sridhar (27) beat Wajid Ali (167) in straight sets – 21-16 21-15 – wrapping up the match in 30 min. Head-2-Head Anup leads 2:0.

League match against Japan:
Anup Sridhar (27) lost to Shoji Sato (17) – 17-21 15-21 in 35 minutes. Head-2-Head Anup and Shoji are tied at 2:2.

Quarterfinal match against Malaysia:
Anup Sridhar (27) lost to Chong Wei Lee (2) – 15-21 14-21 in 28 minutes. Head-2-Head Chong leads 2:0.

5^th – 8^th place match against Singapore:
Anup Sridhar (27) lost to Yen Hui Kendrick Lee (20) – 16-21 14-21 in 24 minutes. Head-2-Head Yen leads 2:0.

5^th – 8^th place match against Hong Kong:
Anup Sridhar (27) beat Yan Kit Chan (19) – 21-16 21-17 in 26 minutes. Head-2-Head Anup leads 1:0.

Anup’s next tournament is the Yonex German Open at Rhein-Ruhr Halle/ Mulheim, Germany from 26^th February – 2^nd March. Anup reached the semi-finals last year and is currently seeded No. 9.