Thomas Cup: Indian Men's Team Lose To Denmark In Quarterfinals

Thomas Cup Badminton: The Indian men's team bowed out of the tournament after losing to Denmark in the quarterfinals.

The Indian men's badminton team suffered 1-3 defeat to formidable Denmark in the quarterfinals to bow out of the Thomas Cup on Friday. Only the pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy could post a win for the team which made it to the Thomas Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 2010. A struggling Kidambi Srikanth was outplayed by his world number 2 opponent and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Viktor Axelsen, who won the first match 21-12 21-13 in 38 minutes.

Srikanth trailed all through the first game and the closest he could go near Axelsen was when the scoreline was 4-3 in the Dane's favour. From there on, the Danish star reeled off seven successive points to be at 11-3 before winning the first game in quick time.

In the second game also, Axelsen did not allow Srikanth to take the lead. The duo were on level terms at 1-1 and then 2-2 but from there on, the Dane zoomed to 5-2 and then to 12-2 by winning seven successive points to leave Srikanth far behind before wrapping up the second game and the match.

The world number 10 men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, however, brought India back into the tie with a three-game win over the duo of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.

The Indian duo won 21-15 17-21 21-18 in the match that lasted one hour and 12 minutes. Denmark, however, regained the lead after world number 3 Anders Antonsen easily beat B Sai Praneeth 21-8 21-15 in the second singles in 45 minutes.