Picture Credit: Twitter
Indian men's badminton team won their historic silver after losing the final event to China 2-3 on Sunday, October 1, at the 19th Asian Games 2023, Hangzhou. The Indian team consisting of Lakshya Sen, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Kidambi Srikanth, Dhruv Kapila, Sai Pratheek, Mithun Manjunathan, went down to their Chinese opponents to settle for the second spot on podium.
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Lakshya Sen opened the game for the Indian side as he defeated China's top-seed Shi Yuqi by securing a come-from-behind 22-20, 14-21, 21-18 victory, and giving the Indians an early victory. Coming up next were the Indian ace duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who extended the lead to 2-0.
The Indians couldn't continue their win streak as Kidambi Srikanth slumped to Li Shifeng, which got later extended to 2-2 after Dhruv Kapila- Sai Pratheek went down to Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi 6-21, 15-21, eventually forcing a decider.
World number 53 Mithun Manjunath took on the court, replacing HS Prannoy, and eventually ended up losing to Weng Hongyang 12-21, 4-21 in a lopsided finale round. This was the Indian men's second medal in the continental showpiece after the Seoul 1986 bronze by the men's team consisting Prakash Padukone and Syed Modi.
