Srikanth & Co. assure India of at least bronze at Thomas Cup
BANGKOK: The Indian men's badminton team scripted a memorable 3-2 win over Malaysia to enter the semifinals of Thomas Cup for the first time in 43 years but the women's side bowed out after losing 0-3 to Thailand in the Uber Cup here on Thursday.
India is thus assured of at least a bronze at the Thomas Cup. The country has not won a medal at the event since 1979.
India had bagged three bronze in the past when they reached inter-zonal finals. However, it is the first time since the change in the qualifying format that the country won a medal at the prestigious tournament.
Up against a team that has won the title five times, the world number 8 pairing of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, world championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy rose to the occasion to see India home.
India will next take on either Korea or Denmark.
A lot of expectation rode on world championships bronze winner Lakshya Sen but he couldn't go the distance in the opening singles, losing 21-23 9-21 to reigning world champion Lee Zii Jia in 46 minutes.
With the Malaysian fans thronging the Impact Arena, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy took to the court and the duo dished out a superlative performance to outwit world number 13 Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin 21-19, 21-15 to bring India back in the fivematch tie.
Srikanth rode on his superior and varied strokeplay to outclass world number 46 NG Tze Yong 21-11, 21-17 and give India a 2-1 lead.
Earlier, double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu fought hard before losing to Ratchanok Intanon as the Indian women's team crashed out of the Uber Cup Finals after being drubbed 0-3 by Thailand in the quarterfinals. The defeat means Sindhu now trails Intanon 4-7 on headto-head record.
India were down 0-2 when the women's doubles pair of Shruti Mishra and Simran Singhi lost 16-21, 13-21 against the Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai.