London Olympic bronze medallist and India team captain for Uber Cup, Saina Nehwal believes that this is the strongest ever team the country has fielded in the Li-Ning BWF Thomas and Uber Cup till date and insisted that she was excited to shoulder the responsibility of providing the team a winning momentum while interacting with the media at the sidelines of the tournament announcement press conference here on Wednesday.
The Li-Ning BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, 2014 will be played at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here from May 18-25. India have been clubbed with Thailand, Hong Kong and Canada in Group C and need to finish among the top two to qualify for the knock out stage.
According to the format of the tournament, an Uber Cup encounter comprises three singles and two doubles with the singles players fielded according to their international rankings. World number 8 Saina would be playing the first singles by virtue of being the highest ranked Indian.
Saina knows that the onus would be on her to provide the hosts the start they are looking for if they aim to emulate their best ever performance of making it to the last eight in 2010.
"The first singles is extremely important to provide momentum to the team. Otherwise it can add pressure on the second singles," said Saina, who had played an important role in helping India reach their maiden quarter-finals in 2010.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medalist admitted that Thailand would be the toughest opponent in the group given their depth in singles. Saina would face world champion Ratchanok Intanon in the first singles against Thailand.
"Thailand has a very good team and winning the three singles is not going to be easy. But it will be a fresh day and I hope we can pull that match off," added Saina during the Press Conference.
Badminton Association of India president Dr Akhilesh Das Gupta wished the team luck and said he had no doubt that the team would come up with the best ever performance on home turf.
"We are happy that Li-Ning BWF Thomas & Uber Cup Finals is being hosted in New Delhi. Recently we hosted the Superseries which was a great event and was a huge success. It is a matter of great pride for us. For Thomas & Uber cup, I am very hopeful with Saina, Sindhu, Kashyap, Srikant and all the other players who are in good form and are being guided by P Gopichand," Dr Das Gupta added.
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