Thomas & Uber Cup 2024: India men's team thump England 5-0 to reach quarter-finals

India, the reigning champions, qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2024 Thomas and Uber Cup in Chengdu, China with a dominant 5-0 win over England on Monday, just a couple of days after they beat Thailand 4-1 in their opening contest.

HS Prannoy made a winning start to beat Harry Huang 21-15, 21-15 and hand India a 1-0 lead. “To give a start to the team is really important, it gives a good boost to the team to go ahead. It is really important to finish off the matches clinically, you saw against Thailand one match 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 were made to sweat by Ben Lane and Sean Vendy before they clinched a 21-17, 19-21, 21-15 win to make it 2-0. Former world number one Kidambi Srikanth recorded a 21-16, 21-11 victory over Nadeem Dalvi to give India an unassailable 3-0 lead.

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“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 little easier opponents so far. But from now 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 not able to pull off the matches. Obviously people will compare how I was playing from 2021-2022. 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.

With PTI inputs