India badminton men’s squad thrashed Philippines 5-0 in their Asia Team Championships opener in Malaysia on Tuesday. India were ruthless as they did not drop a single game in the five matches that they played with all of them finishing under 30 minutes.
In the first match of the day, Kidambi Srikanth beat Ros Leonard Pedrosa 21-11, 21-12. In the second match, the doubles pair of Manu Attri and Reddy B Sumeeth thrashed Carlos Antonie Cayanan and Philip Joper Escueta 21-15, 21-13. In the third, Sai Praneeth beat Arthur Samuel Salvado 21-6, 21-10 to give India a 3-0 lead.
The fourth match was probably the closest Philippines came to a win as Peter Gabriel Magnaye and Alvin Morada took a stern test of the Indian pair of Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok. However, the Indians prevailed 21-18, 21-17. In the last match of the day, India’s Sameer Verma made light work of Lanz Ralf Zafra as he beat him 21-15, 21-12.
India will face Maldives next on Wednesday.