Thomas Cup: Defending champions India make a winning start against Thailand

The Indian men's badminton team started their Thomas Cup title defence with a dominating win over Thailand in their first Group C tie in Chengdu on Saturday.

India defeated Thailand 4-1 and are currently placed second on the Group C points table behind Indonesia.

Taking to the court in the first match, HS Prannoy was up against reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn. Despite starting well in the first game and having a lead of 20-17, Prannoy allowed Vitidsarn to make a comeback and conceded the first game 20-22.

He looked out of sorts in the second game and Vitidsarn won the game 21-14 and the match in straight games to give Thailand a 1-0 lead.

In the second match, world number one men's doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty battled for 65 minutes to stave off a viliant challenge from the world number 52 Peeratchai Sukhpun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul.

Satwik-Chirag won 21-19, 19-21, 21-12 to help India draw level in the tie.

Lakshya Sen fought another lengthy battle of 63 minutes against Panitchaphon Teeraratsakul and defeated the Thai player 21-12, 19-21, 21-16 to give India a 2-1 lead.

The second Indian men's doubles combination of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila tamed Tanadon Punpanich and Wachirawit Sothon 21-19 21-15 to seal the tie in India's favour.

In the inconsequential final match of the tie, Kidambi Srikanth made short work of Saran Jamsri 21-9, 21-5 in just 29 minutes.

Earlier, the Indian women's team recorded a convincing win in the Uber Cup, defeating Canada 4-1 in the first group tie.

The Indian women will play Singapore in their next Group A tie on Sunday, while the men's team will be up against England in their second fixture on Monday.