Horsens (Denmark), 29 April. The country’s budding shuttler Ayush Shetty and veteran HS Prannoy made strong comebacks to win their respective singles doubles but India lost 2-3 to China in the final Group A match of the Thomas Cup Finals here on Wednesday.
A valiant effort by our men!
India will progress to the Thomas Cup Finals 2026 QFs as Group A runners-up
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India, the champion of the year 2022, has already confirmed its place in the quarterfinals. But in the first two matches of this match played to determine the top position in the group, the team came on the backfoot due to the defeat of the country’s top shuttler Lakshya Sen and then the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty respectively.
Ayush defeated Weng Hong Yang in a 70-minute clash
World No. 18 Ayush, who came to play the second singles under pressure, performed brilliantly and made a comeback after trailing by one game and reduced the gap by defeating World No. 15 Weng Hong Yang 17-21, 21-13, 21-15 after a struggle of one hour and 10 minutes.
In the second doubles match, the pair of Hariharan Amasakarunan and MR Arjun lost 17-21, 13-21 to He Ji Ting and Ren Jiang Yu in 35 minutes, due to which China took an unassailable lead of 3-1.
Prannoy defeated Lu Guang Ju after falling behind
After this, Prannoy made a comeback after falling behind by one game in the third singles and defeated Lu Guang Ju 20-22, 21-19, 21-11 in a struggle of one hour and 11 minutes and reduced the margin of defeat.
Li Shi Feng settles for All England Open defeat with goal
World Championship 2021 bronze medalist World No. 11 Lakshya had to face defeat in a three-game encounter despite a tough fight against world No. 7 Li Shi Feng. Lakshya had defeated Lee in the ‘All England Championship’ last month. But he lost 19-21, 21-8, 12-21 in a tough fight that lasted for one hour and 14 minutes.
India was hoping to level the match with the world number four pair of Satwik and Chirag. But despite saving five match points, the pair failed to convert their chances and eventually lost to Paris Olympics silver medalists Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang 13-21, 21-13, 24-26 in 67 minutes.
Indian men will now face Japan
After this defeat, India finished second in Group A and will face 2014 winners Japan in the quarterfinals. Japan defeated Malaysia 3-2 in the final league match and topped Group B.
Indian women have already been eliminated in the league round of Uber Cup.
It is noteworthy that in the Uber Cup finals, Indian women were eliminated in the league round itself. After losing 2-3 to Denmark in the first match of Group A, India defeated Ukraine 4-1. But it had to be eliminated after finishing third in the group after losing 0-5 to China in the final match.
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