China dethrones India in Thomas Cup; Malaysia reaches semis
China dethrones India from its Thomas Cup perch, while Malaysia reached the semifinals after beating Japan on Thursday.
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CHINA DETHRONES INDIA IN THOMAS CUP, ADVANCES TO LAST 4
China dethroned India from its Thomas Cup perch, 3-1, behind its supporting home crowd in Chengdu.
World No.2 Shi Yu Qi opened the hosts’ campaign with a 21-15, 11-21, 14-21 victory over HS Prannoy in the first men’s singles match.
World No.1 men’s doubles pair Liang Wei Ken and Wang Chang overpowered world No.3 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, 21-15, 11-21, 21-13, for China’s 2-0 lead.
Lakshya Sen prevented a China sweep by pulling off a heroic 13-21, 21-8, 21-14 decision over Li Shi Feng as India cut the deficit to 2-1.
However, world No.11 Ren Xiang Yu and He Ji Ting completed China’s conquest of the dethroned champions with a 21-10 21-10 victory over Dhruv Kapila and Sai Pratheek K.
PRANNOY DISAPPOINTED CHINA LOSS CAME AFTER FALLING TO INDONESIA
Prannoy was disappointed after losing to China came after India fell to Indonesia in the preliminaries.
“Everybody was disappointed last night (after the loss to Indonesia),” he said.
“But to come out and play such a big match against the home crowd in less than 13 to 14 hours is a big task mentally out there,” Prannoy added.
He would later give China credit for coming “much more fresher” coming into the matchup.
“I will say that we had a very long night and by the time we slept it was 1:32 (am) and to kind of get back to the energy levels I think is definitely less,” Prannoy said.
MALAYSIA REACHES THOMAS CUP SEMIS AFTER TOPPLING JAPAN
Malaysia reached the Thomas Cup semifinals for the first time in eight years after toppling Japan, 3-1.
Lee Zii Jia got Malaysia going by beating Nishimoto Kenta, 21-13, 21-3.
Hoki Takuro and Kobayashi Yugo responded for Japan with an 18-21 21-14, 21-19 decision over Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.
Leong Jun Hao got Malaysia back ahead, 2-1, after pulling off a 21-13, 21-10 win over Watanabe Koki.
Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin won it for Malaysia with an 18-21, 21-15, 21-12 victory over Koga Akira and Ssaito Taichi.
The win pushed Malaysia to its first Thomas Cup semifinal since 2016.
