Indian men’s badminton team have qualified for the final for the first time ever in the history of Asian Games after the side clinched the thriller against Republic of Korea, winning 3-2 to assure themselves of at least a silver. This will be India’s fourth medal at the men’s badminton team event at the Games and first in 37 years when the nation led by Syed Modi bagged the bronze medal at Seoul 1986. India also won bronze in New Delhi 1982 and Tehran 1974.
World championships bronze medallist HS Prannoy had put India ahead in the semifinal tie against Republic of Korea as he beat Hyeokjin Jeon 18-21, 21-16, 21-19. After losing the opening game, the world No. 7 stepped up to bag two close games against Hyeokjin, ranked 47th in men’s singles.
However, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty failed to add to India’s lead as the world no. 2 men’s doubles pair lost 21-13, 26-24 to Seungjae Seo and Minhyuk Kang, ranked fourth in the world, thus allowing Republic of Korea of level the score after the first two matches.
India once again claimed a lead after reigning Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen made a light work of Yungyu Lee in the third match, winning it 21-7, 21-9 in just 44 minutes. However, another doubles pair, in Arjun Madathil Ramachandran and Dhruv Kapila went 16-21, 11-21 down against Wonho Kim and Sungseunhg Na.
India’s fate eventually resided on Kidambi Srikanth in a deciding singes tie, but the former silver medallist at world championships was utterly dominated in the opening game by Geonyeop Cho before the Indian bounced back to force a third, which turned out to be a tightly-contested affair. Both were level at 12-all after the interval in the second game before the Srikanth soared to a three-point lead before winning six of the next eight points to win the tie 12-21, 21-16, 21-14.
India will take on defending champions China, who beat Japan 3-1 in the other semifinal tie, in the final on Sunday.
Earlier on Friday, the Indian women’s badminton team, spearheaded by PV Sindhu, suffered a quarterfinal exit after the two-time Olympic medallist, along with Ashmita Chaliha and Gayatri Gopichand-Treesa Jolly all lost as the side went 0-3 down against Thailand.
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