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The defending champions India registered a clean sweep over England on Monday, April 29 in Chengdu in Group C encounter to assure themselves a place in Thomas Cup 2024 quarterfinals. The men’s team earlier registered a 4-1 win over Thailand on Saturday to begin their title defence in the competition.
Speaking about their match against England on Monday, HS Prannoy set the tone with a straight game win over Harry Huang. The top-ranked Indian registered 21-15 win in both sets. After a 1-0 lead, the Indian doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty faced a challenging match against Ben Lane and Ben Vendy but triumphed in a three set thriller by 21-17, 19-21, 21-15.
Kidambi Srikanth thereafter continued the winning run as he defeated Nadeem Dalvi in straight games of 21-16, 21-11 to confirm a quarterfinals berth for India. The doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila claimed the fourth game to give a 4-0 lead. The doubles duo beat Rory Easton and Alex Green 21-17 and 21-19. Kiran George thereafter gave a clean 5-0 win to India with another straight game finish against Cholan Kayan 21-18, 21-12.
The Indian men’s team will next face Indonesia on Wednesday, May 1. The 14-time champions of the Thomas Cup currently sit at the top of the Group stage and the winner of India versus Indonesia will decide the top spot in Chengdu.
India women’s team seal quarterfinals berth with 4-1 win over Singapore
The Indian women’s team confirmed their quarterfinals spot after their dominating 4-1 win over Singapore in the second tie of Group A in Chengdu, China on Sunday, April 28. The Asian champions, who defeated Canada 4-1 in their opening match after they came back from Ashmita Chaliha’s loss.
The 53 ranked Chaliha found it tough to get past World No. 18 Yeo Jia Mon, eventually going down 15-21, 18-21. But national champions Priya and Shruti Mishra brought India back in the game with a 21-15, 21-16 win over Xia En Sheng and Jin Yu Jia. Insyirah Khan then doubled the lead with a 21-13, 21-16 win. The 64th ranked Indian pair of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker then went past their Singaporean counterparts with a 21-8, 21-11 win followed by youngster Anmol Kharb sealing the victory with her 21-15, 21-13 win over Lee Xin Megan.