Jakarta, August 19: The Indian badminton team, led by Kidambi Srikanth, made a resounding start to its campaign at the 18th Asian Games, thrashing minnows Maldives 3-0 in the opening match of the team competition here on Sunday (August 19).
World No 8 Srikanth brushed aside Maldives' Hussein Zayan Shaheed Zaki 21-4, 21-5 in 18 minutes to give India a 1-0 lead. World No 11 HS Prannoy then took 21 minutes to outclass Mohamed Sarim 21-8, 21-6 and make it 2-0 in India's favour. B Sai Praneeth, who had clinched the 2017 Singapore Open, then ended the challenge of Mohamed Ajfan Rasheed in just 22 minutes with a 21-7, 21-8 demolition as India wrapped up the contest 3-0.
Asian Games special page | First medal for India
The Indian men's team will next face hosts Indonesia on Monday (August 20) in the quarterfinals. Indonesia, who received a first-round bye, boasts of good players such as Jonathan Christie and Anthony Sinisuka Ginting in the singles, while their doubles line-up comprise World No 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and World No9 Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.
First match ✅
— PBL India (@PBLIndiaLive) August 19, 2018
First victory ✅
Indian Men's 🏸 Team cruise to a 3⃣ - 0⃣ victory against Maldives. They now advance to the quarter-finals.#AsianGames2018 #AceTheAsiad pic.twitter.com/UzswqJSe9N
The women's team, led by Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu, will play formidable Japan in the quarterfinals after receiving a bye in the opening round. Japan, who clinched the Uber Cup title this year, boasts of top singles players such as 2017 World Champion Nozomi Okuhara and World No 2 Akane Yamaguchi, besides current World No 1 and World No 2 pairs of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota and Misaki Matsutoma and Ayaka Takahashi respectively.
The Asian Games team competition is a knock-out affair with a best-of-five format comprising three singles and two doubles matches. Once the team finals are over, the draw for the individual event will be carried out on August 22.