Bangkok (Thailand), May 13 India men's badminton team reached the maiden Thomas Cup final after beating Denmark 3-2 in the semifinal, here on Friday.
Victories by the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy ensured India's maiden presence in the final of the prestigious tournament.
After Lakshya Sen suffered a 21-13, 21-13 straight game defeat to Viktor Axelsen, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty got India its first win of the evening. The pair defeated Kim Astrup and Mathias Christen 21-18, 21-23, 22-20.
The onus was then on Kidambi Srikanth to carry on the good work, and he played brilliantly and defeated Anders Antonsen 21-18, 12-21 and 21-15.
In the fourth match, Indian pair of Vishnu Panjala and Krishna Garaga lost to the Danish pair of Ramussen and Sogaard by 14-21 and 13-21 as Denmark took it to the deciding singles match.
In the decider, HS Prannoy battled an ankle injury suffered in the first game to beat Rasmus Gemke 13-21, 21-9, 21-12 to take India into the finals.
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