International

Thomas Cup: With the help of Lakshya, Ayush and Satvik-Chirag, India reached the semi-finals, former champions defeated Chinese Taipei.

By Samira Vishwas

Horsens (Denmark), 1 May. After the brilliant comeback of the country’s top singles shuttler Lakshya Sen, the famous pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and then the strong performance of young Ayush Shetty, former champion India took a decisive 3-0 lead over Chinese Taipei here on Friday and entered the semi-finals of the Thomas Cup and secured a medal in the Men’s Team Badminton Championship.

India will now compete with Japan or France to enter the finals

India will now face competition from Japan or France to enter the finals. On the other hand, China, which defeated India in the last match of Group A in the league stage, defeated Malaysia 3-0 in another quarter-final. China will now compete with Thailand or Denmark.

Lakshya’s extraordinary comeback from match point

World number 11 Lakshya, who came to play the first rubber of the semi-finals on court number two of Forum Horsens, made an extraordinary comeback by saving two match points and gave India an early lead by defeating world number six shuttler Chou Tien Chen. 24-year-old Lakshya was trailing for most of the time, but he showed amazing courage and won 18-21, 22-20, 21-17 in a marathon battle that lasted for one hour and 28 minutes.

Satwik-Chirag also won in the struggle of three games

World number four pair of Satwik and Chirag doubled India’s lead by defeating Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin 23-21, 19-21, 21-12 in one hour and 15 minutes. After winning the first game in a tough fight, the Indian team lost the second game. But the world number 14 pair of Chinese Taipei could not put up much of a fight in the deciding game.

Ayush Shetty stuns world No. 8 Lin Chun-Yi

The Indian team fielded world number 18 Ayush Shetty in the second singles and the fast-rising young shuttler won applause with his brilliant performance. 20-year-old Shetty from Mangaluru, who reached the final of the Badminton Asia Championship last month, stunned world number eight ranked and current All England Open champion Lin Chun-Yi 21-16, 21-17 in just 48 minutes, taking India to the semi-finals with a decisive 3-0 lead.

Former coach Vimal Kumar said – this is a memorable performance

Apart from winning the title in the year 2022, former coach of the Indian team Vimal Kumar, who has also won bronze medals in 1952, 1955 and 1979, said on this victory, ‘This is a memorable performance. This shows the growing confidence, preparation and strength in Indian badminton.

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