Kidambi Srikanth

World No. 5 Kidambi Srikanth led the charge as India drubbed minnows Maldives 5-0 to make a resounding start in the men's team competition of the Asia Badminton Championships here yesterday. Kidambi started the proceedings, easily outplaying Shaheed Hussein Zayan 21-5, 21-6 in the first singles match, before B Sai Praneeth got the better of Ahmed Nibal 21-10, 21-4. The rest of the tie followed a similar script as Sameer Verma toyed with Mohamed Arsalaan Ali 21-5, 21-1 to take an unassailable 3-0 lead.