The Indian men’s badminton team qualified for the Thomas and Uber Cup 2024 quarter-finals as the second-best side from Group C after losing to record 14-time winners Indonesia in Chengdu, People’s Republic of China on Wednesday.
The Indian men’s team defeated Thailand 4-1 before blanking England 5-0 in their previous Group C ties. However, India went down 4-1 against Indonesia, who finished on top of the group undefeated.
The defending champions began the tie on a winning note. HS Prannoy, ninth in the badminton rankings, defeated Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Anthony Ginting to put India into the lead. Prannoy lost the first game before mounting a strong comeback to win 13-21, 21-12, 21-12 against his world No. 7 opponent in 61 minutes.
However, world No. 3 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty could not double India’s advantage. After losing the first game, Satwik and Chirag saved eight match points to take the doubles rubber to a decider. However, they lost the contest 24-22, 22-24, 21-19 in 77 minutes.
With the tie at 1-1, Lakshya Sen was up against world No. 3 Jonatan Christie in the second singles match of the evening. Sen, who suffered a semi-final loss against Christie at the All England Open semi-finals in March, showed grit but failed to restore India’s lead in the tie. Sen lost 21-18, 16-21, 21-17 in one hour and 15 minutes.
Daniel Marthin and Leo Rolly Carnando secured the tie for Indonesia after defeating Dhruv Kapila and Sai Pratheek 22-20, 21-11 in 38 minutes. India fielded a makeshift combination with Dhruv’s regular partner Arjun MR being on the bench.
In the final singles match of the tie, Kidambi Srikanth failed to make two match points count in the second game and went on to suffer a 21-19, 22-24, 14-21 defeat in 43 minutes against world No. 29 Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.
Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams have qualified for the quarter-finals of the Thomas and Uber Cup 2024 as the second-best sides in their respective groups.
The women’s team will face Japan in the quarter-final of the Uber Cup and the winner will face either Denmark or China in the semis. Meanwhile, defending champions India will face hosts China in the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup.
2024-05-01 16:01:00
#Indian #mens #badminton #team #lose #Indonesia
