TUC 2010 – Poland Minus Two Stalwarts

After the high-profile omission of Korean doubles star Lee Yong Dae from the Thomas Cup roster, Europe’s #2 team Poland has been forced to show up with only half of each of its top two doubles pairs as both Hungarian International winner Wojciech Szkudlarczyk and Hong Kong Open champion Robert Mateusiak were kept home by injuries.  This leaves the Poles with just a skeleton team of 7 as they start their Thomas Cup campaign with a rematch of the European Men’s Team Championship final against Denmark.

Denmark, of course, got their bad news early with the injuries to singles aces Tine Rasmussen and Hans-Kristian Vittinghus while home team Malaysia felt similar blows to their women’s singles squads when Julia Wong and Lydia Cheah were forced to withdraw.  Both of these teams managed to shore up their forces with top youngsters, however, as Malaysia has fielded Lydia’s younger sister, Sonia Cheah along with Sannatasah Saniru and Denmark is sending top juniors Mette Poulsen and Viktor Axelsen.  All three replacements are presently sixteen years of age, with the exception of Saniru, who will turn twenty during the competition.