Asian Games: Lakshya, Sat/Chi heroics in vain as India lose men's badminton final to China, win silver medal

India clinched silver in the men's team competition in badminton on Sunday, 1 October. India were defeated narrowly by China in the men's team event despite heroic efforts from Lakshya Sen and the doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty.

India were without the services of HS Prannoy who was out injured for the final's event. India also did not have Arjun Ramachandra - one-half of the second doubles pair in the final clash against a strong Chinese team.

The Indian contingent started off in style with Lakshya Sen winning a 3-game contest with Shi Yuqi. Yuqi, ranked 8th in the match was tormented by Sen who looked confident after winning the first game 22-20. Sen was humbled in the second game 14-21, where Yuqi seemed to be in more control, but the tables turned once again in the third game where Lakshya



left his opponent guessing with incredible variations. Lakshya won 21-18 to give India a great start.

Next up were Satwik/Chirag, who had lost their doubles match in the semi-final. Sat/Cho dominated their doubles contest throughout and won in straight game 21-15, 21-18. With a 2-0 lead, India's best chance to win the event was 3-0 given India's most experienced players - their Thomas Cup captain - Kidambi Srikanth walked out in the middle.

Srikanth looked off-colour on the day and was humbled by Li Shi Feng 24-22, 21-9. Srikanth's loss opened the floodgates for Chinam who decimated the Indian contingent in the last 2 matches of the event to defend their gold medal in the Asian Games.

This capped off a spirited run from the Indian team, who had defeated the Korean Republic to reach the final match.