Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Oct.16: The Indian men’s badminton team was eliminated from the Thomas Cup on Friday after losing 1-3 to Denmark in the quarterfinals. For the squad that made it to the Thomas Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 2010, only Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were able to win. Viktor Axelsen, the world number two and Tokyo Olympics gold medalist, outplayed Kidambi Srikanth in the first match, winning 21-12 21-13 in 38 minutes.
Srikanth trailed throughout the opening game, and the only time he came close to catching Axelsen was when the score was 4-3 in favour of the Dane. From there, the Danish star scored seven consecutive points to go up 11-3 and win the opening game in a flash.
Axelsen prevented Srikanth from taking the lead in the second game as well. At 1-1 and then 2-2, the two were even, but from there, the Dane sped to 5-2 and then 12-2 by winning seven consecutive points, leaving Srikanth far behind before finishing up the second game and the match.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, the world number 10 men’s doubles combo, brought India back into the tie with a three-game win over Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
In a one-hour and 12-minute match, the Indian duo prevailed 21-15, 17-21, 21-18. Denmark, on the other hand, reclaimed the lead as world number three Anders Antonsen defeated B Sai Praneeth 21-8 21-15 in 45 minutes in the second singles.
M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila then lost 16-21 9-21 in the second doubles to Mathias Christiansen and Frederik Sogaard, securing the tie for Denmark. India had beaten the Netherlands and Tahiti by identical 5-0 scores in the group stage before falling to China 1-4.
For the first time since 2010, India finished second in the group behind China, qualifying for the Thomas Cup quarterfinals. After losing 0-3 against Japan, the Indian women’s team was also eliminated from the Uber Cup.
