Thomas Cup: India off to winning start with 5-0 thrashing of Germany

The Indian men’s badminton team began its Thomas Cup campaign in an emphatic manner, thrashing Germany 5-0 in Bangkok on Sunday.

World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen started the proceedings with an easy 21-16, 21-13 win over world No. 64 Max Weisskirchen.

The doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had to dig deep as they were stretched to a three gamer by Jones Ralfy Jansen and Marvin Seidel. But the Indians managed to prevail 21-15, 10-21, 21-13 in the match lasting close to an hour.

World no 11 Kidambi Srikanth then eked out an 18-21, 21-9, 21-11 win over Kai Schafer after a sluggish start to give India an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Group C tie.

MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila handed Bjarne Geiss and Jan Colin Voelker a 25-23, 21-15 defeat in the second men’s doubles tie as Indian continued its dominant display.

HS Prannoy, ranked 23rd in the world, then hardly broke a sweat as he completed a 5-0 whitewash of Germany, with a 21-9, 21-9 win over Matthias Kicklitz. It was a perfect start for the Indian men’s team, which is searching for its maiden medal at the tournament.

No Indian men’s team has ever reached the semi-finals of the Thomas Cup. Last year, the men’s team had signed off its campaign at the quarterfinal stage. Later in the day, the Indian women’s team will open its campaign against Canada in Group D.