After going down in their opening matches, the Indian men’s and women’s badminton team came out all guns blazing in their second group encounters of the Thomas and Uber Cup here on Monday. While the men ran out 5-0 winners against Australia, the women posted a 4-1 victory against the same opponent.
After going down 4-1 to Canada in the opening match, Saina Nehwal and Co. seemed to get its act together as it won all the matches, except the first women’s doubles.
World No 10 Saina saw off Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen 21-14, 21-19 in a 35-minute opening match to give India the lead.
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However, J. Meghana and Poorvisha S. Ram suffered a 21-13, 21-16 loss to Gronya Somerville and Renuga Veeran to concede the advantage.
J. Vaishnavi Reddy, 16, then dumped Jennifer Tam 21-17, 21-13 to again put India ahead. Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant defeated Louisa Ma and Ann-Louise Slee 21-19, 21-11 in the second women’s doubles match to help India take an unassailable 3-1 lead.
Anura Prabhudesai brushed aside Zecily Fung 21-6, 21-7 to seal the contest 4-1.
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The results: Thomas Cup: India bt Australia 5-0 (H.S. Prannoy bt Anthony Joe 21-19, 21-13; M.R. Arjun & Ramchandran Shlok bt Matthew Chau & Sawan Serasinghe 21-11, 21-15; B. Sai Praneeth bt Jacob Schueler 21-9, 21-6; Arun George & Sanyam Shukla bt Simon Wing Hang Leung & Raymon Tam 21-16, 20-22, 21-8; Lakshya Sen bt Kai Chen Teoh 21-5, 21-14).
Uber Cup: India bt Australia 4-1 (Saina Nehwal bt Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen 21-14, 21-19; J. Meghana & Poorvisha S. Ram lost to Australia’s Gronya Somerville & Renuga Veeran 21-13, 21-16; J. Vaishnavi Reddy bt Jennifer Tam 21-17, 21-13; Sanyogita Ghorpade & Prajakta Sawant bt Louisa Ma & Ann-Louise Slee 21-19, 21-11; Anura Prabhudesai bt Zecily Fung 21-6, 21-7) .