Thomas and Uber Cup 2021 | Women thrash Scotland 4-1, men's team rout Tahiti 5-0 to enter quarter-finals
In an outstanding display of skills, the young Indian women's badminton team beat Scotland 4-1, to progress into the playoffs, at the Uber Cup on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Indian men's team also thrashed Tahiti 5-0 without dropping a game, to enter the last-eight stags of the Thomas Cup.
In a superlative display, the Indian team trounced Scotland by a margin of 4-1 at the Uber Cup on Tuesday, which also means they have made it to the quarterfinals of the event. With the absence of Saina Nehwal owing to an injury in the clash against Spain, there was added pressure on the young Indian women's team, but they came out all cylinders firing against Scotland.Â
After a shaky start in the singles by Malvika Bansod, who lost to world no.26 Kirsty Gilmour 21-13, 21-9, the Indian team was put under immense pressure. But after that 18-year-old Aditi Bhatt leveled the score by winning 21-14, 21-8 over Rachel Sugden. Then it was the doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Rutaparna Panda who won against Julie Macpherson and Ciara Torrance 21-11, 21-8.
!6-year-old Tasnima Mir stole the show as she went out and won 21-15, 21-6Â against Lauren Middleton.
“I've never played such a big event… My first match I was nervous, a bit, but it went well. I managed to play a good game,” the world junior No. 4 told Olympics.com. In the last match of the day, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela beat the experienced pair of Kirsty Gilmour and Eleanor O'Donnell but eventually triumphed 21-8, 19-21, 21-10.
Now on Wednesday India will face off against Thailand in the final Group B clash, which would decide their quarterfinal opponents.
Indian men's team rout Tahiti 5-0
India scripted a comfortable 5-0 victory over Tahiti in their second match at the ongoing 2021 Thomas Cup, in Aarhus, Denmark, on Tuesday. More importantly, the Indians did not concede a game in the entire fixture. The Indian men’s team qualified for the quarter-finals with the win.
In the first singles, Sai Praneeth had the better of Louis Beaubois 21-5, 21-6, with the match ending in 23 minutes. Sameer Verma, in the second singles, also ran over his opponent Remi Rossi in just over 40 minutes, with the final scores reading 21-12, 21-12.
Young Kiran George was summoned for the third singles, with him just needing 15 minutes to crush Elias Maublanc 21-4, 21-2 to give India an unassailable lead of 3-0 in the match. In the doubles clash, the pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila was rested, with debutant Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnu Vardhan replacing them.
The Krishna-Vishnu pair took just 21 minutes to register a victory over Glen Lefoll-Remi Rossi, with scores of 21-8, 21-7. The world no.10 doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty struck the last nail in the coffin with a win over Elias Maublanc-Heiva Yvonet in the second doubles, in just 15 minutes, with the final scores reading 21-5, 21-3.