Following a thrilling 5-0 triumph over Australia on Monday, the Indian men’s badminton team led by HS Prannoy made a humiliating exit from the Thomas and Uber Cup after slumping to a shocking 5-0 defeat to China on Tuesday evening.
In the opening men’s singles match, world number nine Prannoy was stunned by two-time former world champion and Olympic gold medallist, Chen Long in straight sets 9-21, 9-21 in a clash that lasted just 27 minutes.
Subsequently, Zhang Nan joined forces with Liu Cheng in the first doubles clash to double China’s lead as they swept aside the Indian pair of MR Arjun and Shlok Ramchandran 21-12, 21-15.
Though B. Sai Praneeth made world number three Shi Yuqi sweat for almost an hour in the second men’s singles clash, he eventually failed to come out victorious as he suffered a 9-21, 21-15, 12-21 defeat to his opponent to see India go down 0-3 to China.
Arun George and Sanyam Shukla then gave a tough fight to the Chinese team of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen in the second men’s doubles clash before they eventually went down to a 15-21, 22-20, 15-21 defeat.
In the final match and the third men’s singles match, Indian teenager Lakshya Sen comfortably won the first two games before he failed to capitalise on it and slumped to a 21-16, 8-21, 9-21 defeat against Lin Dan to hand 5-0 win to China.
