Thomas Cup: beating England India enters knockout stage

Chengdu/China: India, the defending champions of the Thomas Cup badminton, reached the knockout stage of the tournament after beating 5-0 rout of England in a Group C contest here on Monday, PTI reported.

India, who defeated Thailand 4-1 in their opening tie, notched up a second consecutive win to qualify for the quarterfinals.

HS Prannoy returned to winning ways, defeating Harry Huang 21-15 21-15 to give India a 1-0 lead.

"Giving a start to the team is really important; it gives a good boost to the team and helps it to go ahead. It is really important to finish off the matches clinically; you saw one match against Thailand, and it was bad for us. So it's important to finish off the matches clinically," Prannoy said after his match.

The star pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty was stretched to three games by Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in the first doubles fixtures before the 2022 world champions bronze medallist picked up a 21-17 19-21 21-15 win in one hour five minutes.

Former world number one Kidambi Srikanth recorded a 21-16 21-11 victory over Nadeem Dalvi to give India an unassailable 3-0 lead.

"Happy with the way both the matches have gone for me (in the tournament). There is a lot of pressure on players to win games. I feel I have played a few easier opponents so far. But from now on, we will face better opponents, and I have to be my best," Srikanth said.

On his recent form, Srikanth said, "I'm playing well but am not able to pull off the matches. Obviously, people will compare how I played from 2021 to 2022. I was in my 20s then." The second doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila then brushed aside Rory Easton and Alex Green 21-17 21-19.

In the final match, 24-year-old Kiran George prevailed 21-18 21-12 over Cholan Kayan to wrap up the fixture.

India will take on group toppers and record 14-time champions Indonesia in their final group fixture on Wednesday, PTI reports.