India stormed into the quarter-finals of the 2026 Thomas Cup by thrashing Australia 5-0 in their second Group A match at Horsens on Monday, April 27. The 2022 champions secured a dominant victory, days later beat Canada 4-1. India are now sitting pretty on top of the Group A table, closely followed by defending champions China.
Only two teams from each of the four groups qualify for the finals. India will face top-seeded China on Wednesday to decide the group winners. China beat Australia 5-0 and beat Canada 4-1 on Monday.
India lost to China in the quarter-finals in the last edition, but the former champions, who will be hoping for a strong show, will not meet the defending champions in the last eight rounds in Horsens.
Aware that a win against Australia would guarantee them a place in the last eight, India made only one change to the team that defeated Canada, with HS Prannoy getting the match in place of Kidambi Srikanth.
Lakshya Sen, who lost to Canada’s Victor Lai last week, started the team’s march with a 21-14, 21-16 win over Ephraim Stephen Sam and Asian Championships silver medalist Ayush Shetty, who beat Shrey Dhand 21-8, 21-6 in just 26 minutes.
Former Asian champions Satwiksiraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then put the result beyond doubt as they beat Rizky Hidayat and Jack Yu 21-14, 21-16.
Prannoy and the men’s doubles team of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun then rounded off the scoring with convincing victories.
Result: India beat Australia 5-0
Lakshya Sen bt Ephraim Stephen Sam 21-14, 21-16
- Ayush Shetty bt Shrey Dhand 21-8, 21-6
- Satwiksiraj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty bt Rizky Hidayat/Jack Yu 21-14, 21-16
- HS Prannoy bt Rishi Honda Boopathy 21-11, 21-17
- Hariharan Amsakarunan/MR Arjun bt Andika Ramadiansyah/Sam 12-21, 10-21
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
27 Apr 2026 16:11 IST
