Indian men’s badminton team kept up their unbeaten start to the Thomas Cup finals in Bangkok, with a 5-0 win against Canada in a Group C match on Monday.
Srikanth Kidambi, leading the singles charge on Monday in place of Lakshya Sen, gave India a 1-0 lead with a three-game win against the highly rated Brian Yang. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then wasted little time in breezing through their doubles match to put India 2-0 up.
Badminton, Thomas Cup as it happened: Srikanth and Co down Canada 5-0, India qualify for knockouts
Promoted to the second singles slot, HS Prannoy sealed the deal for India in straight games and effectively ensured his team’s progress to the knockouts, which was expected to begin with.
It was important for India to ensure they kept up the momentum, and they remained unbeaten in the tie with Krishna Prasad-Vishnuvardhan and Priyanshu Rajawat finishing things off with wins in their respective matches.
With Chinese Taipei also winning their tie against Germany, both teams confirmed a safe passage through to knockouts from this group. The India vs Chines Taipei match on Wednesday morning will decide what could be a crucial top spot for Group C.
India had earlier defeated Germany 5-0 on Sunday.
World Championships silver medallist Srikanth took his time to get going against Yang but fought back from a game down to win 20-22, 21-11, 21-15 in 52 minutes. The second and third games witnessed some of the best attacking play from the former world No 1 in recent times.
The doubles pair of Satwik and Chirag Shetty needed just 29 minutes to beat a scratch pairing Jason Anthony Ho-Shue (normally a singles player) and Kevin Lee. Then world No 23 HS Prannoy won a rather entertaining singles match against Bangalore-born BR Sankeerth 21-15, 21-12 to make it 3-0.
The second doubles pair of Krishna and Vishnuvardhan also made the most of their chance on Monday defeating Adam Dong and Nyl Yakura 21-15, 21-11 in 34 minutes.
The route was completed when Priyanshu Rajawat, who topped the recent selection trials, beat 17-year-old Victor Lal in three entertaining games. With both youngsters having not much to lose, they produced some breathtaking rallies in a match that ended 21-13, 20-22, 21-14 in the Indian’s favour.
Indian men are searching for their first medal at the tournament.
The PV Sindhu-led Indian women’s team had also begun its Uber Cup campaign on a resounding note with a 4-1 win against Canada on Sunday and will face USA on Tuesday and Korea on Wednesday.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!