Promising shuttler RMV Gurusaidutt was the only bright spot on an otherwise dismal day for India as the hosts started their campaign at the Thomas Cup with a crushing 1-4 defeat against formidable Malaysia at the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi on Sunday.
Kidambi Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap lost their singles match in straight games and the doubles pair of Sumeeth Reddy B and Manu Attri too went down without a fight as India surrendered the tie 0-3 after the first three matches.
In the fourth match, doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Jerry Chopra managed to take a game away from their rivals before going down in three games.
Guru brought some smiles back to the Indian camp when he played out of his skin to eke out a thrilling three-game victory in the third singles.
Playing the first singles, K. Srikanth saved five game points but still went down fighting to world number one Lee Chong Wei 19-21 12-21 in a 35-minute match, while Sumeeth Reddy B and Manu Attri were thrashed 14-21 11-21 by Boon Heong Tan and Thien How Hoon in the first doubles match as India lagged 0-2.
Skipper Kashyap then took the court to play the second singles but the Indian failed to gauge the game plan of his rival, Chong Wei Feng to eventually suffer a 13-21 6-21 loss as India further slipped to 0-3.
Dewalkar and Chopra then combined and raised hopes of an upset win after grabbing the second game against V Shem Goh and Wee Kiong Tan but ended up defeated. Akshay and Pranaav lost 17-21 21-14 14-21 in a 47-minute match as Malaysia continued their domination.
In the third singles, World No. 30 Gurusaidutt produced a gallant fight to edge out world number 66 Daren Liew 18-21 21-13 21-19 in an over an hour’s match.
