Picture Credit: Twitter/@OlympicKhel
The Indian Men's team is showing some great form at the ongoing Thomas and Uber Cup as they completed a whitewash for the second consecutive day in the tournament. After pinning down Germany on the first day, the Men's team outclassed Canada on Day 2 in Group C tie to give India an edge in the prestigious tournament.
World Championship silver medalist Kidambi Srikanth started the proceedings for India's Men's team against Canadian shuttler Brian Yang. The World No. 11 shuttler fought back from a game down to beat Brian Yang 20-22, 21-11, 21-15 in 52 minutes to give India its first win of the day.
Srikanth's fighting performance was backed really nicely by the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. The Indian duo took down the Canadian duo of Jason Anthony Ho-Shue and Kevin Lee in straight games of 21-12, 21-11 in just 29 minutes to give India a 2-0 lead.
World no.23 HS Prannoy showed great composure to emerge victorious against B R Sankeerth in 42 minutes. The Indian shuttler beat Sankeerth 21-15, 21-12 to make it 3-0 and clinch the tie for India. The second doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala was also too good for the duo of Dong Adam and Nyl Yakura in the match that the Indians won 21-15, 21-11 in 34 minutes.
With all the Indians winning their respective games, the onus was on young Priyanshu Rajawat to bring the second whitewash for India in the tournament. The youngster did live up to the expectations but with a flinch. Rajawat had to sweat hard against Victor Lal. However, the Indian managed to win the match in three games of 21-13, 20-22, 21-14 in the third men's singles which lasted 52 minutes.
With this thumping win over Canada, the Indian Men's team has booked themselves a place in the knockouts. They will now face Chinese Taipei in their last Group C match on Wednesday. Meanwhile, earlier on Day 1, the Indian women's team also completed a resounding victory over their Canadian counterpart by 4-1.
While PV Sindhu (beat Michelle Li 21-17, 21-10), Aakarshi Kashyap (beat Wen Yu Zhang 17-21, 21-18, 21-17), Ashmita Chaliha (beat Rachel Chan 12-21, 21-11, 22-20), Tanisha Crasto and Treesa Jolly (beat Catherine Choi and Josephine Wu 21-9, 21-15) won their respective matches, doubles pair of Shruti Mishra and Simran Singhi went down fighting to Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai (19-21, 12-21). The Women's team will now play the USA on Tuesday and Korea on Wednesday.