India men’s team kept their hopes alive of qualifying for the knockout stage of the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Shah Alam, Malaysia after beating Hong Kong 3-2 in their Group A match. Lakshya Sen led his campaign with a straight game win over Lee Cheuk Yiu.
A crushing 0-5 defeat in their opening match against Korea has made life difficult for India as they are currently third in Group A with one win and one loss above Hong Kong.
Three-time defending champions Indonesia and Korea are currently in the race to qualify from Group A.
However, the men’s team will have to claim an outright victory against title holders Indonesia on Friday and lose Korea to Hong Kong to make an impossible entry into the knockout stage.
India and Korea currently have one win and one loss and if both teams win on Friday, it will come down to the number of matches won and lost, where Korea is ahead.
Lakshya led India
India Open winners Lakshya Sen, Mithun Manjunath and the doubles pair of Hariharan Amsakrunan and Ruban Rethinasabapati Kumar put on a good show during the five-match encounter.
World No. 13 Lakshya got India off to a good start at the 2013 Asian Youth Games by defeating world No. 17 Lee Cheuk Yiu 21-19 21-10 in 35 minutes.
Hong Kong took control of the match with Law Cheuk Him and Lee Chun Hee Reginald registering a thrilling 20-22, 21-15, 21-18 win over Manjit Singh Khwairakpam and Dingku Singh Konthoujam.
Kiran George, who won her maiden Super 100 event in Odisha, put up a spirited performance before losing 13-21, 21-17, 9-21 to Chan Yin Chak as Hong Kong took a 2-0 lead after three matches .
Hariharan and Ruban, who won the All India Senior Ranking Badminton Tournament in Chennai in December last year, defeated Hong Kong’s Chow Hin Long and Louis Chun Wai 21-17, 21-16 to save India.
Manjunath, who reached the semi-finals of the Syed Modi Super 300, then defeated Jason Gunawan 21-14 17-21 21-11 to give India a 3-2 victory.
The Indian women’s team lost their first match 2-3 to Malaysia. They will take on defending champions Japan on Friday.