In Badminton, defending champions India have advanced to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, featuring the men, with a 5-Nil victory against England in the Group C contest in Chengdu, China last night.
In the first match, ace shuttler H S Prannoy put India into the lead, defeating Harry Huang in straight games, 21-15, 21-15. While in the second match, world No. 3 duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Ben Lane and Sean Vendy, 21-17, 19-21, 21-15. In the third match, Kidambi Srikanth stepped up to seal the tie for India in straight-games, defeating Nadeem Dalvi, 21-16 21-11. The pair of M.R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila made it 4-NIL by clinching the 2nd doubles tie. They beat Rory Easton and Alex Green, 21-17 21-19. The finishing touches were applied by Kiran George, defeating Kalyan Cholan, 21-18 21-12 in staright games.
The Indian Men’s team started their Thomas Cup title defence with a 4-1 win against Thailand on Saturday. India will face Thailand tomorrow to decide the group toppers.
