Horsens (Denmark), April 24 (IANS) India men began their campaign in the Thomas Cup badminton championships with a win in their opening group stage match, beating Canada 4-1 in Horsens, Denmark, on Friday.

The 2022 champions got off to a poor start after Lakshya Sen lost the opening match of the tie to Victor Lai, but the men’s doubles duo of Satiwksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty levelled the tie by beating Jonathan Bing Tsan Lai and Kevin Lee in straight games.

Ayush Shetty gave India a 2-1 lead with a win over Brian Yang. Then another doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and M.R. Arjun extended India’s lead to 3-1 before Srikanth Kidambi wrapped up the tie 4-1.

Lakshya started well and headed into the mid-game interval with an 11-6 advantage and stretched the lead to 14-10. The game got really tight in the end, with Lai closing the gap. But Lakshya got the benefit of a strong early lead to take the opening game 21-18. But the Canadian bounced back brilliantly to win the next two games and the match 18-21, 21-19, 21-10.

In the second rubber, Satwik-Chirag Shetty levelled the tie with a dominant 21-10, 21-11 win over Jonathan Bing Tsan Lai and Lee. The Asia Championships runner-up Ayush continued the momentum with an impressive 21-13, 21-17 victory in 39 minutes over the world number 33 Yang.

The second doubles pair of Amsakarunan and Arjun registered a 21-7, 21-15 victory over Lindeman and Yakura to give India an unassailable 3-1 lead. Srikanth wrapped up the tie for India with a convincing 21-17, 21-12 win against Joshua Nguyen in the inconsequential fifth match in just 31 minutes.

The Indian men’s team next plays Australia on April 27. Meanwhile, the women’s team is currently in action against Denmark.

–IANS

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