New Delhi: India lost to defending champions China 3-2 to advance to the Thomas Cup quarter-finals as group runners-up in Horsens, Denmark, on Wednesday.
Both teams had won their first two Group ties against Canada and Australia and were assured of a last eight berth.
In the contest to determine the group champions, 2022 champions India fell behind 2-0 as singles star Lakshya Sen and the doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost their respective matches.
Ayush reduced the margin with a 17-21, 21-13, 21-15 in the second singles against Weng Hong Yang but China took an unassailable 3-1 lead when He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu won 17-21 13-21 against Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun in the second doubles match.
HS Prannoy then defeated Lu Guang Zu 20-22, 21-19, 21-11 in the third singles to make it 3-2.
“I think I really enjoyed that. It was really good. It’s my first Thomas Cup. The goal was to win. But yeah, unfortunately it was two close games. But happy to get the point for the team,” Ayush said.
“The josh is really high. I mean, we really believe that we can go all the way. I think the team believes, I believe it. I think we can do it.”
Earlier, Lakshya went down to world No. 7 Li Shi Feng 19-21 21-8 12-21 in the first singles, having beaen him on way to a runner-up finish at the All England Championships.
Fourth-ranked pairing of Satwik and Chirag saved five match points but eventually lost 3-21 21-13 24-26 to Paris Olympics silver medallists Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.
When Hariharan and Arjun lost, it was decided that India would advance as the second best team from their group and could face 2014 champions Japan in the quarters after they topped their group.