Thomas Cup: India blank Germany 5-0 in Group-C
Bangkok, May 8 : India started its Thomas Cup campaign with a dominant 5-0 victory over Germany in the opening Group C fixture here at Impact Arena on Sunday. Lakshya Sen won the first match to give India a 1-0 lead over Germany. The star men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won a close doubles match to make it 2-0. Then, ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth took three games to help India pocket the tie 3-0 before the doubles team of M R Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, and HS Prannoy gave the last touches to the perfect start with their convincing straight-sets win. World bronze medallist Lakshya registered an easy 21-16, 21-13 win over Max Weisskirchen in the opening match. Satwik and Chirag defeated Jones Ralfty Jansen and Marvin Seidel 21-15, 10-21, 21-13. After an edgy start to the third match, Srikanth completed a come-from-behind 18-21, 21-9, 21-11 win against Kai Hendrik Schafer in what was an hour-long affair. In the fourth game, the doubles team of Arjun and Dhruv overcame Geiss and Jan Colin Voelker 25-23, 21-15. Prannoy H S continued India’s dominant display as he edged out Matthias Kicklitz 21-9, 21-9, to wrap up a 5-0 clean sweep over Germany in the opening tie. India looks set to continue their clinical form, when they take on Canada in the second Group-C tie.
