THOMAS & UBER CUP 2024: INDONESIA SEE OFF INDIA 4-1 IN MARATHON CLASH TO WIN THOMAS CUP GROUP C

THOMAS & UBER CUP 2024: INDONESIA SEE OFF INDIA 4-1 IN MARATHON CLASH TO WIN THOMAS CUP GROUP C

Indonesia have topped Group C at the badminton Thomas Cup to secure a seeding for the quarter-final draw after a tricky tie against defending champions India on Wednesday (1 May).

Four of the five individual matches in the tie between the two already-qualified teams went the full three games, as the Indians put up stiff resistance against the group favourites.

Indeed, the defending champions got off to the perfect start when world number nine H.S. Prannoy saw off Anthony Ginting 13-21, 21-12, 21-12, Prannoy bouncing back from a poor first game in which he was outplayed to wrest control from his Indonesian opponent.

But in the first doubles, there was a reversal of fortunes: Indonesian world number nine pairing Shohibul Fikri / Bagas Maulana stretched hard against the world number three duo S Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty to pull off a 24-22, 22-24, 21-19 win.

That levelled the overall score at 1-1, before singles world number three Jonatan Christie was also made to work hard by Lakshya Sen. Christie eventually triumphed 21-18, 16-21, 21-17.

The only match of the five to not last longer than an hour was also the only one settled in straight games, and it turned out to be the decider, as Leo Rolly Carnando / Daniel Marthin eased past Dhruv Kapila / Sai Pratheek 22-20, 21-11 in just 38 minutes to guarantee the Indonesian win.

Former world number one Kidambi Srikanth battled hard in the dead rubber fifth match and again forced a three-setter against Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo, but the Indonesian triumphed 19-21, 24-22, 21-14 to put the cherry on top of a scintillating clash between two very evenly matched teams.

In the women's Uber Cup, Indonesia narrowly missed out on a surprise win against Group C favourites Japan. With both teams through to the quarter-finals, Gregoria Mariska Tunjung laid down a warning marker to the Japanese as she beat former world number one Yamaguchi Akane 17-21, 21-17, 21-13.

However, Japan's shuttlers took the next three rubbers to put the contest out of reach, before Indonesia notched a consolation point in the final singles as the Japanese ran out 3-2 winners.

The Thomas and Uber Cup Finals 2024 are available to stream live on Olympic Channel via Olympics.com and the official Olympics app for mobile devices (territorial restrictions may apply).

Goh, Z. (2024, May 1). Thomas & Uber Cup 2024: Indonesia see off India 4-1 in marathon clash to win Thomas Cup Group C. Olympics.com. https://olympics.com/en/news/thomas-uber-cup-2024-indonesia-see-off-india-marathon-clash-group-c