India ends 37-year wait with silver in men's badminton at Asian Games

HWANGCHO: India made history in the men's badminton team event at the Asian Games. India reached the finals for the first time in the history of the Games and secured the silver medal after a loss to China. India's defeat came despite winning the first two matches.

In the first match, Lakshya Sen defeated China's Yuki Shi giving India the lead with scores of 22-20, 14-21 and 21-18. Later in the first doubles, Satwik Sairaj Renkireddy and Chirag Shetty triumphed over China's Liang and Wang with scores of 21-15 and 21-18. However, in the second singles, Kidambi Srikanth of India succumbed to Li Shi Feng with scores of 22-24 and 8-21. In the second doubles the duo of Dhruv Kapila and Prateek fell to the combination of Liu and Owu with scores of 6-21 and 15-21. In the crucial final match, the injured Malayali star H S Mithun Manjunath who replaced Prano was defeated by China's Weng Hong Yang with scores of 12-21 and 4-21. Consequently, India settled for the silver medal.

India advanced to the final by defeating South Korea 3-2 in the semi-final. After a 37-year gap, India secured a medal in the badminton team event.