India rode on the brilliance of Ayush Shetty, Lakshya Sen and the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankreddy and Chirag Shetty to trounce Chinese Taipei 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the Thomas Cup in Horsens, Denmark on Friday. The 2022 champions play the winners of the match between France and Japan in the semis on Saturday. he victory also assured India a medal in the Thomas Cup Finals, regarded as the world men’s team championships. India had won the Thomas Cup in 2022 besides winning bronze medals in 1952, 1955 and 1979.The moment Ayush stunned reigning All England champion Lin Chun-Yi 21-16, 21-17, Shetty stormed the court and the rest of the team followed as the Indians celebrated their entry to the semifinals for the second time in tournament’s history.Lakshya’s lion-hearted display secured the first point for India. He saved two match points before dominating Chou Tien Chen in the third game to win 18-21, 22-20, 21-17.From 18-20, Lakshya scored four points to push the match into the decider. Lakshya was on the brink at 17-19 and 18-20 in the third after doing well to overcome deficits of 7-13, 12-16 in the second.Losing the second game rattled Chou, who gave up the fight after the change of courts in the decider.“After losing the first set, I stopped thinking too much. I just attacked a bit more and was more proactive towards the end of the second. I involved him in more rallies,” Lakshya said.Satwik-Chirag worked hard for one hour and 15 minutes to beat Chiu Hsiang Chieh and Wang Chi-Lin 23-21, 19-21, 21-12.The Asian Games champions trailed for most of the first game. At 18-20, they applied relentless pressure with sharp returns. Chiu-Wang committed two unforced errors, hitting one outside the court and the next into the net. After saving two game points the Indians wrapped up the game. The second game was too close to call as Chiu-Wang managed to win three straight points from 18-19.In the decider, Satwik-Chirag started with an 8-3 lead, made it 11-5 before winning. Chirag said that Lakshya’s victory inspired him. “The way he came back from 18-20 was great. I was watching him from the assembly area and celebrated just like him. It really charged us up,” Chirag said.
