We are definitely in for a medal at Thomas Cup Finals: Chirag

New Delhi, Oct 07 (PTI): Indian men’s badminton team has a realistic chance of securing a medal at the Thomas Cup Final, believes top doubles player Chirag Shetty, who is eyeing a spirited show at the prestigious event after missing out the Sudirman Cup due to an injury.
Just weeks before heading to Sudirman Cup, Chirag had pulled his abdominal muscle, forcing him to skip the mixed team championships and he is itching to return to the court at Thomas Cup, which will be his first event since the Tokyo Olympics.
The rescheduled Thomas and Uber Cup Finals, the men’s and women’s team tournament respectively, will be held from October 9 to 17 at Aarhus, Denmark. “Two weeks before going for Sudirman, I pulled my Abs and I decided to skip the Sudirman Cup. But I am now fit and really looking forward to the Thomas Cup Finals,” Chirag, one half of the world No. 10 pair, told PTI in an interview.
India have been drawn against defending champions China, Netherlands and Tahiti in Group C and Chirag said they “definitely have a chance” of returning with a medal.
“We have strong doubles pairs, not only strong singles players this time. So we can win a medal as well. We are definitely in for a medal. Last team champion that we played, it was Asian Team championship and we ended up with a bronze, so I feel we have the team to win a medal,” he said. “Looking at the draw, we should reach the quarterfinal first and then step up our game to go for medal.”
Chirag said one of the reasons he pulled out of the Sudirman Cup was because he didn’t want to aggravate the injury considering the fact that they have back-to-back tournaments lined up in the rest of the year.