CHENGDU: Men’s doubles pair He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu were thrilled after propelling hosts China to the semis of the Thomas Cup Finals.
World No. 11 Jiting-Xiangyu, who were preferred over world No. 8 Liu Yuchen-Ou Xuanyi, were in their element when they swept aside Dhruv Kapila-K. Sai Pratheek 21-10, 21-10 in the second doubles to hand China a 3-1 win in the quarter-final at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center in Chengdu yesterday.
Shi Yuqi got the homesters off to a good start by beating H. S. Prannoy 15-21, 21-11, 21-14 in the first singles.
Liang Weikeng-Wang Chang then doubled China’s advantage with a hard-fought 21-15, 11-21, 21-12 victory over Hangzhou Asian Games gold medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty in the first doubles.
World No. 13 Lakshya Sen gave defending champions India a lifeline by coming from behind to stun world No. 6 Li Shifeng 13-21, 21-8, 21-14 in the second singles.
Jiting-Xiangyu though crushed India’s hopes of making a comeback with a straightforward win.
“We are so happy to get the winning point for our team,” said Jiting.
“We went all out in the match and stayed focused and managed to win.”
China will next face Malaysia in the semi-finals after the latter beat Japan 3-1 in the last eight.
On their semi-final match against Malaysia, Jiting said, “Malaysia are a strong team but we have home advantage.”
China last captured the title in the 2018 edition in Bangkok.
