Hangzhou, Oct 2: The Indian men’s badminton team won a historic silver medal in the 19th Asian Games after a tough match against defending champions China. This is India’s first silver medal in the men’s team event at the prestigious continental competition.
India’s last medal in the men’s team event at the Asian Games came 37 years ago during the 1986 Seoul edition when players like Prakash Padukone and Syed Modi led the team.
In the final match against China, India had to face top singles player H.S. Missed his presence. Prannoy was ruled out of the semi-final against South Korea due to an injury he sustained. In Prannoy’s absence, Mithun Manjunath played the fifth match and lost to Hongyang Weng of China.
India started the final with a lead as Lakshya Sen defeated world number six Shi Yuqi. The men’s doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy achieved another win and gave India a 2-0 lead.
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However, China fought back and won the third and fourth matches to level the tie at 2–2. Manjunath could not save the match in the final match, as a result, India lost the match 2-3 and had to be content with the silver medal.
Badminton events at the Asian Games 2023 will continue with singles, doubles, and mixed doubles events starting on October 2.
