Indian men in knockout round of Thomas Cup

Bangkok, May 9: The Indian men’s badminton team notched their second successive win with a 5-0 thrashing of Canada in a group tie to qualify for the knock-out round of the Thomas Cup here on Monday.

With their second impressive result, the Indian team, who defeated Germany 5-0 on Sunday, are certain to finish in the top-2 in Group C and thus qualify for the knockout round.

World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth fought back from a game down to beat Brian Yang 20-22, 21-11, 21-15 in 52 minutes to give India the lead. The doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then needed just 29 minutes to beat

Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Kevin Lee before world number 23 H. S. Prannoy easily won his singles match against B. R. Sankeerth 21-15, 21-12 to make it 3-0 and clinch the tie for India.

The second doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala was also too good for the duo of Dong Adam and Nyl Yakura in the match that the Indians won 21-15, 21-11 in 34 minutes.

The route was completed when Priyanshu Rajawat beat Victor Lal in three games, 21-13, 20-22, 21-14 in the third men’s singles which lasted 52 minutes.

The Indian men’s team are searching for their maiden medal at the tournament. No Indian men’s team has ever reached the semifinals of the Thomas Cup.

The Indian team will play their final Group ‘C’ match against Chinese Taipei on Wednesday. The Indian women’s team had also begun their Uber Cup campaign on a resounding note with a 4-1 win against Canada on Sunday. It will face USA on Tuesday and Korea on Wednesday.