Thomas & Uber Cup: Prannoy, Satwik-Chirag disappoint, defending champs ousted by China 1-3

In what comes as a huge blow for the Indian badminton, the 2022 Thomas Cup champions were beaten by China 1-3 in the quarterfinals, on Thursday. That meant, the campaign for the Indians ended rather prematurely, without even getting into the title hunt. To put it mildly, Team India’s performance was not up to the mark, that led to their downfall.

Going up against World No. 2 Shi Yuqi, Prannoy lost in three games 21-15, 11-21, 14-21, that gave Chinese a lead in the tie. Then it was Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty who lost their doubles match against World no. 1 team of Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang 15-21, 21-11, 12-21 in a one-sided match.

Lakshya Sen Trounces Li Shifeng

At one point India were at the risk of losing the tie 0-3, but Lakshya Sen beat Li Shifeng, the World No. 6, 13-21, 21-8, 21-14. He played out of his skin to get the improbable win and delay the inevitable — a loss. But eventually, in the second doubles encounter Dhruv Kapila and Sai Pratheek lost to Hen JT/Ren XY in two games, 21-10, 21-10.