Sudirman Cup: A look at India's best performances over the years

B Sai Praneeth and Kidambi Srikanth will lead the charge for Indian badminton team at the 2021 Sudirman Cup, slated to get underway from September 26 at the Energia Areena in Vantaa, Finland.

The Indian team, however, will miss the services of Olympic medallists PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal at the 17th edition of the Sudirman Cup.

Apart from B Sai Praneeth and Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Dhruv Kapila, MR Arjun are among the men's shuttlers named in the squad. Malvika Bansod, Aditi Bhatt, Tanisha Crasto, Rutuparna Panda, Ashwini Ponnappa, N Sikki Reddy are the women who make up the Indian squad for Sudirman Cup.

What is the Sudirman Cup?

It is a biennial international badminton tournament where mixed national teams compete. It was established in 1989.

India had, incidentally, failed to qualify in the last edition of the Sudirman Cup in 2019. As it is, it will be a stern test for the Indian side this time around in an event where they have never progressed beyond the quarter-finals.

Let us, however, take a closer look at the two occasions India managed to reach the quarter-finals:

2017 Sudirman Cup: Quarter-finals

India were placed in the Group 1D at the 2017 Sudirman Cup along side Denmark and Indonesia.

Their campaign began with a 1-4 defeat against Denmark. The Indian team, however, bounced back to beat Indonesia by a 4-1 margin which helped them advance to the quarterfinals with one point from two matches.

However, India were pitted against a formidable Chinese team in the quarterfinals. The contest began with India's mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa losing 21-16, 13-21, 16-21 to Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong.

Premier Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, then, failed to overcome his familiar foe Chen Long as he lost 16-21, 17-21 in the men's singles contest.

The disappointing run for India, then, came to an end with their loss in men's doubles contest. The pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 9-21, 11-21 to Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan.

2011 Sudirman Cup: Quarterfinals

India were place along side Chinese Taipei and Thailand in group stage matches of the 2011 Sudirman Cup.

Their campaign begin with a 3-2 win over the Chinese Taipei side before a narrow 2-3 loss against Thailand. However, the only win at group stage, was enough to help them advance to the quarterfinals stage with one point from two matches.

India were pitted against China in the quarterfinals but they were beaten 1-3 by the Chinese. Int he first match, the men's doubles pair of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar lost 15-21, 14-21 to Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng in 29 minutes.

Star India shuttler Saina Nehwal, then, levelled the tie with a 21-15, 21-11 win over her Chinese counterpart Wang Xin in a women's singles contest that lasted for 33 minutes.

Parupalli Kashyap, however, then lost 14-21, 14-21 to Lin Dan in the men's singles contest. The pair of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa also registered a 8-21, 13-21 loss in the match against Xu Chen-Ma Jin that sealed India's exit.