Thomas Cup 2024: Lakshya Sen sole winner as defending champions India bow out after 1-3 loss to China in the quarter-finals
The quarter-finals of the prestigious Thomas Cup 2024, taking place in Chengdu, China, saw defending champions India go down 1-3 to hosts China and crash out of the competition. Lakshya Sen was the only Indian to notch up a win in the quarterfinal.
The opening match of the tie saw India’s leading men’s singles shuttler, HS Prannoy, take on World No. 2 from China, Shi Yu Qi. Prannoy started off by taking the opening game 21-15, but the Chinese shuttler bounced back to completely outplay the Indian in the next two sets. Shi Yu Qi won the second set 21-11 before winning the third 21-14 to give China the lead.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the World No. 3 pair from India, faced off against the World No. 1 duo of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang in the first doubles of the tie. The two shuttlers from China did not give the Indians a chance to play their usual attacking style of play and completely dominated the net in the first set, winning it 21-15.
However, Shetty and Rankireddy changed their strategy and clinched the second game 21-11 to take things to the decider. The final game not only saw the Chinese shuttlers dominate once again, but several unforced errors from the Indians helped Keng and Chang win the set 21-12 to seal the match and extend China’s advantage in the tie.
In the third match, Lakshya Sen took on Li Shi Feng, the World No. 6 shuttler. After dropping the first game, Sen quickly found his rhythm and started engaging Feng in long rallies. Making minimal errors and hitting some rather accurate and powerful smashes, Sen convincingly won the second and third games 21-8, 21-12, respectively. The final score of the match was 13-21, 21-8, 21-12.
The second doubles saw India’s Sai Pratheek and Dhruv Kapila up against the World No. 11 pair of He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu. While the Indian shuttlers gave a tough fight to the Chinese duo, Ting and Yu proved to be a little too strong for them. The pair from China won the match 21-10, 21-10, and helped wrap up the tie 3-1.
This defeat put an end to India’s campaign at the tournament. However, India secured some good wins against Thailand and England in their group-stage matches. They also went down to Indonesia in a thrilling tie in their final group-stage match.
India's Thomas Cup 2024 results against China:
Men’s Singles 1
HS Prannoy (India) lost to Shi Yu Qi (China) 21-15, 11-21, 14-21
Men's Doubles 1
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty (India) lost to Liang Wei Keng/ Wang Chang (China) 15-21, 21-11, 12-21
Men's Singles 2
Lakshya Sen (India) beat Li Shi Feng (China) 13-21, 21-8, 21-12
Men's Doubles 2
Sai Pratheek/Dhruv Kapila (India) lost to
He Ji Ting/ Ren Xiang Yu (China) 10-21, 10-21