India have slight chance against Indonesia: Gopichand

New Delhi: India will open its campaign in the Thomas Cup Final tomorrow against a formidable Indonesia and national coach Pullela Gopichand feels the men’s team have an outside chance to upset the Asian giants.

Gopichand admitted that Chetan Anand’s loss is a big blow but said India have a good bench strength and they would look to pull off two singles and a doubles to upset Indonesia. “Chetan’s exclusion is a big blow but fortunately we have a qualify singles player in P Kashyap, Arvind (Bhat) and Anup (Sridhar) and a good bench strength,” Gopichand told from Kuala Lumpur. “Expecting India to win all the three singles will be too much, so we would look to win at least two singles and a doubles. We have some specific plans for each of the singles players and if they work out fine, I feel India will have a slight chance,” he added. Gopichand said in the last three weeks, the team have worked really hard on fitness. “After ABC, we could put together the team and all the players have worked a lot on their fitness. Arvind and Anup have also made good strides and I hope they do well,” said the 2001 All England champion. Arvind, who is likely to play Sony Kuncoro on Monday said he has prepared well for the tournament and would look to beat the Indonesian. “I think I will play against Sony. I have lost in two games against him but he is injury prone and I have practiced hard so I would fancy my chances against him,” Arvind said. “I have played in the 2006 Thomas Cup finals and I can say we have the best team this year. So quarterfinals definitely and anything beyond that will be a big achievement for India,” he added. PTI