India thrash Australia 5-0 to enter Thomas Cup quarterfinals
India defeated Australia 5-0 in the Thomas Cup to secure a quarterfinal berth, with wins from Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty and the doubles pairs, and will next face China to decide the group topper
Hyderabad: Former champions India blanked Australia 5-0 in the men’s Group A clash to assure themselves of a quarterfinal berth in the Thomas & Uber Cup 2026 in Horsens, Denmark, on Monday.
India had defeated Canada 4-1 in their opening group tie and will next face top seeds China to decide the group winners. China had defeated Australia 5-0 and got the better of Canada 4-1 on Monday.
Aware that a victory against Australia would guarantee them a last-eight spot, India made just one change to the team that defeated Canada, with HS Prannoy getting a match in place of Kidambi Srikanth.
Lakshya Sen began the team’s march with a 21-14, 21-16 win over Ephraim Stephen Sam, and Asian Championships silver medallist Ayush Shetty made it 2-0 by defeating Shrey Dhand 21-8, 21-6 in just 26 minutes.
Former Asian champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then put the result beyond doubt, beating Rizky Hidayat and Jack Yu 21-14, 21-16.
Prannoy and men’s doubles pairing of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun then rounded off the scoreline with convincing victories.
Result:
Men: India beat Australia 5-0 (Lakshya Sen bt Ephraim Stephen Sam 21-14, 21-16; Ayush Shetty bt Shrey Dhand 21-8, 21-6; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty bt Rizky Hidayat/Jack Yu 21-14, 21-16; HS Prannoy bt Rishi Honda Boopathy 21-11, 21-17; Hariharan Amsakarunan/MR Arjun bt Andika Ramadiansyah/Sam 21-12, 21-10)
