India rout England, sail into Thomas Cup quarterfinals

Chengdu (China): Defending champions India sailed into the knockout stage of the Thomas Cup with a 5-0 rout of England in a Group C contest here on Monday.

India, who defeated Thailand 4-1 in their opening tie, notched up a second consecutive win to qualify for the quarterfinals.

H S Prannoy returned to winning ways, defeating Harry Huang 21-15, 21-15 to give India a 1-0 lead.

"To give a start to the team is really important, it gives a good boost to the team to go ahead. It is really important to finish off the matches clinically, you saw against Thailand one match was bad for us. So it's important to finish off the matches clinically," Prannoy said after the win.

The star pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty was stretched to three games by Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in the first doubles fixtures before 2022 world champions bronze medallists scored a 21-17, 19-21. 21-15 win in one hour five minutes.

Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth recorded a 21-16, 21-11 victory over Nadeem Dalvi to give India an unassailable 3-0 lead.

"Happy with the way both the matches have gone for me (in the tournament). There is a lot of pressure on players to win games. I feel I have played little easier opponents so far. But from now we will face better opponents and I have to be my best," Srikanth said.

On his recent form, Srikanth said "I'm playing well but not able to pull off the matches. Obviously people will compare how I was playing from 2021-2022. I was in my 20s then."

The second doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila then brushed aside Rory Easton and Alex Green 21-17, 21-19.

In the final match, 24-year-old Kiran George prevailed 21-18, 21-12 over Cholan Kayan to wrap up the fixture.

India will take on group toppers and record 14-time champions Indonesia in their final group fixture on Wednesday.