The Indian men's team, led by World Championships bronze medallist Lakshya Sen, defeated Hong Kong 3-2 in Group A here on Thursday to keep their hopes of making it to the knockouts of the Badminton Asia Team Championships alive. For India, India Open winners Lakshya, Mithun Manjunath and the doubles pair of Hariharan A and Ruben R have also won.
World number 13 Lakshya Sen has also given India a good start by defeating world number 17 Lee Chuk Yew 21-19 21-10 in 35 minutes. Lau Chuk Him and Lee Chun Hei Reginald defeated the duo of Manjit Singh Khaverakpam and Dinku Singh Konthozam 20-22 21-15 21-18 in a thrilling match to level Hong Kong 1-1 in the doubles match. Kiran George suffered a 13-21 21-17 9-21 defeat against Chen Yin Cheuke despite putting up a tough challenge as Hong Kong took a 2-1 lead. Hariharan and Reuben, however, defeated Chou Hin Long and Liu Chun Wei 21-17 21-16 to level the knot for India.
Manjunath, who reached the semi-finals of the Syed Modi Super 300 tournament, has then defeated Jason Gunawan 21-14 17-21 21-11 in a hard-fought match to ensure India's 3-2 victory, the Indian women's team was also losing 2-3 against Malaysia in their first match. The team will take on defending champions Japan in their second match on Friday.
India reached women's World Cup with England, China and NZ
