Indian badminton teams begin with resounding wins in Thomas and Uber Cup

Bangkok, May 8

The Indian men’s badminton team began its Thomas Cup campaign in an emphatic manner, thrashing Germany 5-0 here today.

World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen started the proceeding with an easy 21-16 21-13 win over world No. 64 Max Weisskirchen. But the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had to dig deep as they beat Jones Ralfy Jansen and Marvin Seidel 21-15 10-21 21-13 in a match lasting close to an hour. World No. 11 Kidambi Srikanth eked out an 18-21 21-9 21-11 win over Kai Schafer after a sluggish start to give India an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Group C tie.

MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila handed Bjarne Geiss and Jan Colin Voelker a 25-23 21-15 defeat in the second men’s doubles tie before HS Prannoy, ranked 23rd in the world, eased to a 21-9 21-9 win over Matthias Kicklitz.

The Indian men’s team is searching for its maiden medal at the tournament. No Indian men’s team has ever reached the semifinals of the Thomas Cup. Last year, the team had reached the quarterfinal stage.

Women ease past Canada

The Indian women’s team beat Canada 4-1 in their Group D Uber Cup face-off.

Double Olympics medallist PV Sindhu gave a flying start to India with a 21-17 21-10 win over Michelle Li in 33 minutes. Canada levelled the scores as the Indian doubles pair of Shruti Mishar and Simran Singhi lost 19-21 12-21 to Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai.

Aakarshi Kashyap beat Wen Yu Zhang 17-21 21-18 21-17 to give India the lead again. The pair of Tanisha Crasto and Treesa Jolly made it 3-1 with a 21-9 21-15 win over Catherine Choi and Josephine Wu before Ashmita Chaliha completed the formalities with a 12-21 21-11 22-20 win over Rachel Chan.