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 The Indian badminton stunned Malaysia in the final Group game to finish top of the Badminton Mixed Asia Team Championship played in Dubai on 16 February. After blanking both Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates 5-0 in the first two games, the Indian team faced the toughest challenge so far. The first singles match saw HS Prannoy upset Lee Ji Zia in three grueling games. It was a tough battle for both players before the World number 4 Lee won the first game 21-18. HS Prannoy made a strong comeback with lovely shots keeping pressure on Lee winning it by 21-13 to take the game into the decider. Both players fought for each point in the third and final game. The match ebbed and flowed before HS Prannoy held onto his nerve to win it 25-23 giving India a 1-0 lead. PV Sindhu defeated Wong Ling Ching in the women’s singles match. It was an impressive performance by the Indian star as she trailed before showing her domination winning the first game by 21-13. It was another close...

The Indian men’s team provided a gritty display of badminton against the two-time Champions Indonesia going down fighting 2-3 in the semi-finals of the Badminton Asia Team Championship played at Manilla on Saturday. In the first match of the day, Sai Praneeth lost to Anthony Gingting 6-21 before retiring hurt at the start for 2 nd game to give Indonesia a 1-0 lead. Praneeth looked out of sorts against Ginting. Lakshya Sen produced a stunning display to defeat the Asian Games gold medallists Jonathan Christie in a closely fought match by 21-18, 22-20 to level the scores at 1-1. It was a superb performance by Sen who showed great resilience and kept the Indonesian player on the backfoot. Sen won the first set easily at 21-18. Both players fought for each point in the 2 nd game before the Indian cruised past Christie. In the first men’s doubles Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun went down fighting to Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiwan in three gruelling games by 10-21, 21-14, 21-23. ...

From being down 0-2, the Indian men’s badminton team achieved an almost impossible 3-2 victory over the experienced Thailand side in the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Team Championship played at Manilla, Philippines on Friday. It was not an ideal start for the Indian side as singles specialist Sai Praneeth lost to 12 th ranked Thai player Kantaphon Wangchareon in three sets by 14-21, 21-14, 12-21 to give Thailand a 1-0 lead in the tie. Sai looked out of sorts in the first game and the Thai player took advantage of it. In the second game, Sai came back strongly to level the score at 1-1. In the third and deciding game, the Thai player showed great control and won the match easily. Kidambi Srikanth lost to Junior Champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in two straight sets by 20-22, 14-21 to give Thailand a 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a close fought game in the first set as both players fought for each point before the youngster won the set 22-20. In the 2 nd game, the Thailand pl...