Thomas and Uber Cup: India maul Aussies to stay in hunt

NAGPUR: India bounced back in style by thrashing

Australia

to stay in the hunt for

Thomas and Uber Cup

quarterfinals at Bangkok on Monday.



While Indian men’s team blanked Aussies 5-0, Saina Nehwal-led side mauled the same opponent 4-1.

HS Prannoy, who surprsingly rested himself against France on Sunday, gave the team an early momentum by thumping Anthony Joe 21-19, 21-13. The captain’s clinical victory set the tone for the rest of the tie as others also performed well and completed a 5-0 rout.

B Sai Praneeth and Lakshya Sen won their respective singles with utmost ease. The two doubles combination after a double whammy on Sunday against France finally lived up to their potential.

Both the doubles pairs -- MR Arjun-Shlok Ramchandran and Arun George-Sanyam Shukla -- won in contrasting fashion.

India, who were shocked by lower-ranked France 1-4 in their opening outing, will take on top seed China on Tuesday.

Earlier, the script was more or less same as Indian eves steamrolled Aussies 4-1 in the Uber Cup.

Saina Nehwal provided a flying start with a straight-game win over Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen. The 28-year-old overcame the late challenge from her opponent to win 21-14, 21-19 in 35 minutes.

Saina was in top form in the first game which she wrapped up within no time. However, Chen staged a fightback in the second game and was leading initially by five points. However, Saina caught her and levelled the scores 19-19 before sealing the match with a couple of points in the end.

Australia equalized the issue in the first women’s doubles encounter as Gronya Somerville and Renuga Veeran shocked higher-ranked Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram 21-13, 21-16.

Barring the women’s doubles match, the Indian team won all their matches. Teenagers Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka and Anura Prabhudesai rose to the occasion and won their respective singles.

The experienced pair of Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant had no problem dismissing Louisa Ma and Ann-Louise Slee 21-19, 21-11 in the second doubles match. India will clash with top seeds Japan on Wednesday.

RESULTS

Uber Cup: India bt Australia 4-1 (Saina Nehwal bt Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen 21-14, 21-19; J Meghana-Poorvisha S Ram lost to Gronya Somerville-Renuga Veeran 13-21, 16-21; Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka bt Jennifer Tam 21-17, 21-13; Sanyogita Ghorpade-Prajakta Sawant bt Louisa Ma-Ann-Louise Slee 21-19, 21-11; Anura Prabhudesai bt Zecily Fung 21-6, 21-7).

Thomas Cup: India bt Australia 5-0 (HS Prannoy bt Anthony Joe 21-19, 21-13; MR Arjun-Shlok Ramchandran bt Matthew Chau-Sawan Serasinghe 21-11, 21-15; B Sai Praneeth bt Jacob Schueler 21-9, 21-6; Arun Georg-Sanyam Shukla bt Simon Wing Hang Leung-Raymond Tam 21-16, 20-22, 21-8; Lakshya Sen bt Kai Chen Teoh 21-5, 21-14).


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