On Thursday, history was created when the Indian men team of Kidambi
Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram and H.S. Prannoy beat China for the first time in a
team event in the Badminton Asia Team Championship.
India registered a 3-2 win over China in the five-match tie comprising
three singles and two doubles. All of India’s three wins came in the singles
category, while their two losses came in the doubles category. In the first
men's singles match, Kidambi Srikanth, currently the top ranked player for
India at 9, gave a good start to his team with a superb 21-11, 21-17 win
against China's Houwei Tian. In the second singles India's Ajay Jayaram defeated
China's Zhengming Wang, with a score of 22-20, 15-21, 21-18. The third match
was between H.S. Prannoy and Yuqi Shi, in which Prannoy won in straight games
21-14, 21-10.
The two doubles matches were, however, a disappointment for India as the
team lost both of them. Manu Attri-Sumeeth Reddy lost to China's Junhui Li-Zihan
Qiu 20-22, 11-21. In doubles, the teams of Manu Attri-Sumeeth Reddy and Pranaav
Jerry Chopra-Akshay Dewalkar failed to register a win.
Things were not as bright for the Indian women as they went down in a
shutout score of 0-5 to Japan. P V Sindhu, PC Thulasi and Ruthvika Shivani
Gadde lost their singles matches, while the teams of Jwala Gutta-Ashwini
Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy-PV Sindhu lost in the doubles category.
After his win, Kidambi said, "It was a close victory and I am happy
that all the team members performed well. I am confident that my team will
maintain the winning streak in the next matches."
The Indian badminton scene is definitely going to get a boost post
Thursday’s win and is bound to pave the way for inspiration for budding
shuttlers in the country.
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