India’s men shuttlers Beat China 3-2 In Asian Badminton

18 February, Hyderabad

India’s men shuttlers exhibited the skill to dismantle the near-impregnable Chinese wall. The conquest will be significant even though China has not fielded its full-fledged team. In terms of morale booster it will go a long way in rejuvenating the mindset of the players, opines chief national coach, Pullela Gopichand.

Displaying a rare champion-like spirit, which they have been bereft of when playing the badminton powerhouse, K Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram and HS Prannoy scripted a new chapter a day after entering quarterfinals when they outclassed China 3-2 in the Badminton Asia Team Championships at the GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium here Thursday .

Quite ironically, each won their respective singles match even as the two doubles games were won by the Chinese opponents.A flying start was provided by World No 9 and Indian captain, Srikanth registered an emphatic 21-11, 21-17 win over China’s Houwei Tian, while Jayaram was stretched by Zhengming Wang before posting a hard-fought 22-20, 15-21, 21-18 win.Prannoy had by far the easiest outing when he trumped Yuqi Shi with a 21-14, 21-10 score-line.

However, the good luck did not rub onto the doubles players as Manu Attri-Sumeeth Reddy lost to Junhui Li-Zihan Qiu 20-22, 11-21. A 10-21, 18-21 demolition sealed the fate of Pranaav Jerry Chopra-Akshay Dewalkar against Yilv Wang-Wen Zhang.