On paper, Denmark should blow India away in the quarter finals of the Thomas Cup that gets underway in Tokyo tomorrow. Coach Vimal Kumar, though, would want to go down all guns blazing and so, has made a tactical adjustment to his scheme of things. Instead of Thomas Kurian, it will be Anup Sridhar, India’s number two singles player, who will pair up with Jaseel P. Ismail in the doubles to ensure that the three singles are played first before the doubles.

In the Thomas Cup, if there is no common player in singles and doubles, they are played alternately. But, with Sridhar playing the second singles and second doubles, the three singles will be held first.

Going by world rankings, that shouldn’t make much of a difference. Danish singles specialists Peter Gade Christensen is No. 3, Kenneth Jonassen is No. 5, Niels Christian Kaldau is No. 10 and Joachim Persson is No. 17, all higher ranked that India’s No. 1 Chetan Anand at 24.

Anand, who sat out during India’s 3-0 victory over New Zealand in the previous match due to blisters on his foot, passed a fitness test today and will open up proceedings against Peter Gade. The Indian lost to the Danish number one in the Singapore Open last year, but fancies his chances this time around.

“If I play to my potential, I expect to run him close,” the Indian said.

Coach Vimal Kumar added: “Peter Gade is 30 and Chetan should stretch him. Jonassen is 32 and I expect Anup to run him closed. In the third singles, they are probably going to play Persson instead of Kaldau and that gives Arvind Bhatt a chance. As for the doubles, we anyway had scratch pairings and so playing Anup would be to our tactical advantage,” he said.