Hangzhou, Sep 30: Kidambi Srikanth rallied his way to a thrilling win in a tense decider as India kept alive their hopes of winning a first-ever gold medal at the Asian Games, reaching the men’s team championships final with a 3-2 win over South Korea here on Saturday.
This is India’s maiden entry into the final of the team event at the continental showpiece.
World No. 7 HS Prannoy showed nerves of steel to bounce back from an opening game reversal to outwit Jeon Hyeok Jin 18-21, 21-16, 21-19 and put India 1-0 ahead but Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost the first doubles 13-21, 24-26 to reigning world champions Seo Seung-Jae and Kang Min-hyuk as Korea made it 1-1.
Lakshya Sen then put up a dominating show in the second singles to bring India back in business with a clinical 21-7, 21-9 win over Lee Yungyu but MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost 16-21, 11-21 to Kim Wonho and NA Sungseung in the second doubles as the two teams found themselves on level terms once again.
Srikanth, a 2021 World Championships silver medallist, then fought his way under pressure to struggle past world no. 163 Cho Geonyeop 12-21, 21-16, 21-14 and seal India’s place in the summit clash at the BJ Gymnasium.
India will look to live up to their Thomas Cup champions tag when they face multiple-time gold medallist China in the final on Sunday.
Saturday’s win assured India of at least a silver medal in badminton at the continental championships with two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu winning the first in women’s singles in 2018 in Jakarta. (PTI)
