IMAGE: Lakshya Sen gave India a winning start as he beat Nepal’s Prince Dahal 21-5, 21-8 in the badminton men’s team quarter-finals at the Asian Games. Photograph: Badminton Association of India/X
India thrashed lowly Nepal 3-0 in the quarter-finals to secure a historic medal after 37 years in the men’s team badminton event at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Friday.
Taking the court first, Lakshya Sen defeated Prince Dahal 21-5, 21-8 before Kidambi Srikanth beat Sunil Joshi 21-4, 21-13 in the second match.
In the third match, Mithun Manjunath edged past Bishnu Katuwal 21-2, 21-17 to clinch the tie.
The Indian men, who are assured of at least a bronze, will now face the winner of the match between Indonesia and Korea in semifinal for a spot in the gold medal clash.
However, it was disappointment for the Indian women’s team.
The women’s team, led by PV Sindhu, failed to put up a fight against Thailand, going down 0-3 in the quarterfinals to crash out of the Asian Games.
It was always going to be a tall task for India to tame the Thai, who boast the likes of former World champion Ratchanok Intanon, World No 12 Pornpawee Chochuwong and World No 17 Supanida Katethong in their ranks.
However, India couldn’t produce a fight with two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu being the only one to take a game off during her 21-14, 15-21, 14-21 loss against Chochuwong in the opening women’s singles match.
After the opening reversal, the onus fell on World number 17 Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand to bring India back in contention but the duo lost steam, losing 19-21, 5-21 to Jongkolphan Kittitharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai, ranked 10th, in women’s doubles.
The left-handed Ashmita Chaliha was then humbled by Busanan Ongbamrungphan 9-21, 16-21 in the third match to shut the door on India’s medal hopes.
The women’s team had won a bronze medal in the 2014 edition in Incheon.
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