India settled with a silver medal after losing 2-3 to China in the men’s team badminton event at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou on Sunday.
This was India’s second-ever silver medal in Asian Games badminton after PV Sindhu’s women’s singles final appearance at Jakarta 2018. India have now won 11 medals – two silver and nine bronze – in the sport at the continental meet.
Heading into the final match against the defending champions, the Indian team had the odds stacked against it with HS Prannoy, the top-ranked Indian singles player in the world badminton rankings, sidelined from the tie with a back injury.
However, Lakshya Sen and Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy stepped up to the occasion with victories against tough opponents to give India hope. However, Kidambi Srikanth, Dhruv Kapila-K Sai Pratheek and Mithun Manjunath, who came in for the tie in place of HS Prannoy, though, failed to capitalise on the lead as India lost 2-3.
