New Delhi, May 21: The Indian men’s team today salvaged some pride with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Germany in their inconsequential Group C tie to end its campaign at the Thomas Cup badminton tournament on a positive note at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here.
Indian men had lost 1-4 to Malaysia and 2-3 to Korea in their last two ties to put paid to their quarterfinal hopes.
After two losses in the last ties, K Srikanth gave India a good start as he edged out Marc Zwiebler 21-18 18-21 21-18 in a 56-minute match.
However, Michael Fuchs and Johannes Schoettler whipped India’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy 21-15 21-6 as Germany drew parity at 1-1.
Captain Parupalli Kashyap tried his heart out in the second single but could not get past Dieter Domke, who eked out a hard-fought 23-21 14-21 21-14 to give his team a 2-1 lead.
The doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Jerry Chopra then brought India back into the hunt with a thrilling 21-9 17-21 21-19 win over Peter Kaesbauer and Josche Zurwonne in the second doubles.
With India’s fate hinging on the third singles, R M V Gurusaidutt edged out Lucas Schmidt 14-21 21-19 21-19 in a come-from-behind high-octane match during which the noise made by the crowd hit a crescendo.
Guru produced a brilliant fightback in the second game after losing the first as he repaired a six-point deficit from 5-11 to first claw back at 18-18 and then wrest the lead with a smash. He finally roared back into the contest with a cross court net dribble that found Lucas napping.
In the decider, Guru opened up a lead early on and maintained it, moving from 14-11 to 14-19. Lucas breathed down his neck and made it 19-20. But with his return finding the net, Guru burst into celebration. (PTI)
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