Indian men thrashed Philippines at the Asia Team championship

The Indian contingent broke the opening in a dissimilar way at the Badminton Asia Team Championship 2018 in Alor Setar, Malaysia on Tuesday. While, women fought for five hours to corner Hong Kong with a 3-2 victory in Group W draw, men thrashed Philippines with straight 5-0 in their Group D.

The Indian men team cruised to the opening victory in all the matches that lasted less than half an hour.

Kidambi Srikanth started the emanation of victory over Ros Leonard Pedrosa with 21-11, 21-12 in just 28 minutes, and had passed the stride to the compatriots. Indian national men's doubles champions Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy then beat Carlos Antonie Cayanan and Philip Joper Escueta 21-15, 21-13.

Singapore Open Superseries champion B Sai Praneeth was the fastest Indian to win on Day 1, who needed just 23 minutes to prevail over Arthur Samuel Salvado 21-6, 21-10. The men’s doubles pair of Arjun MR and Shlok Ramchandran then beat Peter Gabriel Magnaye and Alvin Morada 21-18, 21-17.

In the final match of the tie, Syed Modi International winner Sameer Verma got the better of Lanz Ralf Zafra 21-15, 21-12, to put India in the second place in the group after Indonesia, and will face next match on Wednesday against Maldives.

Close call for the women team:

Saina’s pull out at the Badminton Asia Team Championship turned as the burden for PV Sindhu, who fought to save two points, in singles and doubles each, edging Hong Kong with 3-2 lead in their opening Group W match.

The 22-year old lanky Indian defeated Yip Pui Yin in 33 minutes with 21-12, 21-18 in the first women’s singles match.

Hong Kong, however, leveled the score at 1-1 when Ng Wing Yung and Yeung Nga Ting ousted Ashwini Ponnappa and Prajakta Sawant to a 22-20, 20-22 10-21 defeat in the first women’s doubles.

In the second women’s singles match, Cheung Ying Mei, who bet Carolina Marin in last week’s India Open, pressured Indians with her defeat over Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli with 21-19, 18-21, 22-20.

Sindhu Partnered with Sikki Reddy pulled a second victory in the second women’s doubles match against Ng Tsz Yau and Yuen Sin Ying with 21-15, 15-21, 21-14 to level the score with 2-2.

Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, after losing in the first game clinched the match and saved the team against Hong Kong with the winning point in the last women’s singles match. She prevailed a 16-21, 21-16, 21-12 victory over Yeung Sum Yee.

Women’s next match is against Japan on Thursday.