The Indian men's team failed to retain their Thomas Cup title as they lost the quarterfinal against China at the High-Tech Zone Sports Center in Chengdu, China on May 3. Indian team succumbed 1-3 to China despite the valiant efforts of Lakshya Sen. On the other side, the women’s team campaign also came to an end with a 0-3 defeat to Japan in the Uber Cup quarterfinals on May 2.
In 2022, India secured their first-ever title at the World Men’s Team Championships against Indonesia. But this year, Indian shuttlers had a challenging day as world no. 9 HS Prannoy, world no. 3 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and Dhruv Kapila and Sai Pratheek K faced defeats in their respective matches. The situation was exactly the 2023 Asian Games final where India lost 2-3 and picked up a silver medal.
The Indian team finished second following a group-stage loss of 1-4 to Indonesia. While China performed better and emerged victorious once again.
Unfortunate to kind of play today: HS Prannoy
Despite a strong start, HS Prannoy suffered a setback as he lost 21-15, 11-21, 14-21 to world No. 2 Shi Yu Qi, who gave China a 1-0 lead.
"I don't know but surely I think China had one day off and they came in (the contest) much more fresher. It makes a big difference in the third game. Unfortunate to kind of play today," said Prannoy in the post-match presentation.
“I will say that we had a very long night and by the time we slept it was 1.32 (am) and to kind of get back to the energy levels I think is definitely less. Everybody was very disappointed last night (after the loss to Indonesia), but to come out and play such a big match against the home crowd in less than 13 to 14 hours is a big task mentally out there because you just lost out with a big opponent like Indonesia,” Prannoy added.
Meanwhile, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty failed to contribute for India and suffered defeat 15-21, 21-11, 12-21 against the world No. 1 duo of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang as India slipped to 0-2.
Lakshya Sen wins against Li Shi Feng
However, Lakshya Sen's victory against world No. 6 Li Shi Feng with a score of 13-21, 21-8, 21-14 lived up to the expectations. However, Dhruv and Sai couldn’t sustain the momentum and went down 10-21 10-21 to the world No. 11 pair of Ren Xiang Yu and He Ji Ting.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
