India Men’s Badminton Team Assures Medal After Beating Japan 3-0 in Asian Games Quarterfinals

Nagoya, September 22
Indian men’s Badminton team produced a superlative performance to outwit hosts Japan in the quarterfinals and assure itself of a medal at the Asian Games at Nagoya, Japan, today. Lakshya Sen was staring at defeat after losing the opening game and trailing 14-19 in the decider.

However, Lakshya made a comeback, reeling off seven straight points to beat world No.7 and two-time world championships silver-medallist Kodai Naraoka 11-21, 21-5, 21-19 to give India a 1-0 lead.

Playing the first doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who have won two titles this season, registered a 21-18, 24-22 win over former world champions Hoki Takuro and Kobayashi Yugo to extend India’s lead to 2-0. Ayush Shetty then produced an impressive performance to see off world no. 16 Koki Watanabe 21-10, 21-19 to seal the match and a medal for India.

India will face the winner of the other quarterfinal between defending champions China and Korea in the last four stage tomorrow. The Indian men were the silver medalists of the last edition