Indian shuttlers fail the French conquest, settle for bronze medal in the Thomas Cup

India, who went into the semifinal without star player Lakshya Sen, failed to withstand the French conquest and succumbed to a 0-3 loss in the Thomas Cup in in Horsens, Denmark.

For France it was another milestone moment. They are the second European team to reach the final of the Thomas Cup.

https://x.com/badmintoneropa/status/2050648740193820772?s=20

The Indians, who had won the 2022 championship, settled for a bronze medal. The Indians, who had upset Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals, had suffered a major setback ahead of their semifinal clash as their top singles player, Lakshya Sen, had to sit out due to an elbow injury.

Injured Lakshya ruled out of India’s semifinal game against France in Thomas Cup

Debutant Ayush Shetty then had to play the first singles and 2025 BWF World Tour Finals winner Christo Popov exploited his opponent’s relative inexperience to win 21-11, 21-9 to push the Indians on the back foot.

The 20-year-old Ayush, who stunned All England Open champion Lin Chun-Yi to help his team seal off an impressive quarterfinal sweep, failed to replicate his form from Friday. He was outplayed in both games by his French opponent, the reigning BWF World Tour Finals champion.

Kidambi Srikanth was unable to get the better of Alex Lanier in the second singles tie. Pics: Badminton Photo

World No. 10 Alex Lanier then extended his team’s lead with a 21-16, 21-18 win over former Word No.1 Kidambi Srikanth. The veteran player fought well but was unable to get the better of Lanier.

This meant that HS Prannoy needed to win the third singles against Toma Junior Popov to bring the doubles combinations into action. However, he could not sustain the relatively good start and went down 19-21, 16-21.

With the singles players failing to win even a single tie, there was no need for the doubles pairs to battle it out.

Result: India lost to France 0-3 (Ayush Shetty lost to Christo Popov 11-21, 9-21; Kidambi Srikanth lost to Alex Lanier 16-21, 18-21; HS Prannoy lost Toma Junior Popov 19-21, 16-21).