Badminton: Indian Men Assure Of Medal, Women's Team Bows Out Of Asian Games

India thrashed lowly Nepal 3-0 in the quarterfinals to secure a historic medal after 37 years in the men's team badminton event at the Asian Games

India thrashed lowly Nepal 3-0 in the quarterfinals to secure a historic medal after 37 years in the men's team badminton event at the Asian Games in Hangzhou on Friday. Taking the court first, Lakshya Sen defeated Prince Dahal 21-5 21-8 before Kidambi Srikanth beat Sunil Joshi 21-4 21-13 in the second match. In the third match, Mithun Manjunath edged past Bishnu Katuwal 21-2 21-17 to clinch the tie. The Indian men, who are assured of at least a bronze, will now face the winner of the match between Indonesia and Korea in semifinal for a spot in the gold medal clash.

However, it was disappointment for the Indian women's team.

The women's team, led by PV Sindhu, failed to put up a fight against Thailand, going down 0-3 in the quarterfinals to crash out of the Asian Games.

It was always going to be a tall task for India to tame the Thai, who boast the likes of former world champion Ratchanok Intanon, world no. 12 Pornpawee Chochuwong and world no. 17 Supanida Katethong in their ranks.

However, India couldn't produce a fight with two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu being the only one to take a game off during her 21-14 15-21 14-21 loss against Chochuwong in the opening women's singles match.