Thomas Cup: India annihilate Tahiti 5-0 to make quarters

THE Indian men’s team on Tuesday (12) thrashed Tahiti 5-0 in Thomas Cup at the Ceres Arena in Aarhus, Denmark, to qualify for the quarter finals from Group C.

India beat the Netherlands by a similar margin in their first match of the group on Sunday (10) and are at the second place in the points table after defending champions China who have also beaten Tahiti and the Netherlands 5-0 each.

In the first match of the India-Tahiti tie. 2019 World Badminton Championship bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth beat Louis Beaubio 21-5, 21-6. Sameer Verma then made it 2-0 by beating Remi Rossi 21-12, 21-12. Kiran George made it 3-0 to clinch the title when he defeated Elias Maublanc 21-4, 21-2. It took only 15 minutes for George to give his team the tie.

India did not let their guard down in the doubles as Krishna Garag-Vishnu Panjala pair thumped Glen Lefoll and Rossi 21-8, 21-7 and Tokyo Olympians Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy beat Maublanc and Heiva Yvonet 21-5, 21-3 to make it 5-0.

India will play China in the final group match on Thursday (14).