New Delhi: The Indian men's team today salvaged some pride with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Germany in their inconsequential Group C tie to end its campaign at the Thomas Cup badminton tournament on a positive note at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here. Indian men had lost 1-4 to Malaysia and 2-3 to Korea in their last two ties to put paid to their quarterfinal hopes.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2014/jul/Srikanth.jpg" alt="K Srikanth" /> K Srikanth. Pic/AFP
After two losses in the last ties, K Srikanth gave India a good start as he edged out Marc Zwiebler 21-18 18-21 21-18 in a 56-minute match. However, Michael Fuchs and Johannes Schoettler whipped India's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy 21-15 21-6 as Germany drew parity at 1-1.
Captain Parupalli Kashyap tried his heart out in the second single but could not get past Dieter Domke, who eked out a hard-fought 23-21 14-21 21-14 to give his team a 2-1 lead.
The doubles pair of Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Jerry Chopra then brought India back into the hunt with a thrilling 21-9 17-21 21-19 win over Peter Kaesbauer and Josche Zurwonne in the second doubles.
With India's fate hinging on the third singles, R M V Gurusaidutt edged out Lucas Schmidt 14-21 21-19 21-19 in a come-from-behind high-octane match during which the noise made by the crowd hit a crescendo. Guru produced a brilliant fightback in the second game after losing the first as he repaired a six-point deficit from 5-11 to first claw back at 18-18 and then wrest the lead with a smash.
He finally roared back into the contest with a cross court net dribble that found Lucas napping. In the decider, Guru opened up a lead early on and maintained it, moving from 14-11 to 14-19. Lucas breathed down his neck and made it 19-20. But with his return finding the net, Guru burst into celebration.&nbsp;
Earlier, Srikanth mixed his strokes, covered the court and varied the pace well to push Marc into committing errors. The Indian fought back from 9-11 down at the interval to draw parity at 18-18 and then surged ahead when Marc's return found the net. A bodyline smash earned him another point and then with the German hitting long meant Srikanth pocketing the first game.
In the second game, Marc led 11-9 again at the break but this time he went on to win the game, despite Srikanth threatening to make another roaring comeback as he reduced a seven-point lead at 10-17 to come as close as 20-18. In the decider, Srikanth dominated proceedings from the start and led 11-6 and even though Marc clawed back to make it 19-16, the Indian sealed the match in his favour when the German hit long.

The Indian men's team today salvaged some pride with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Germany in their inconsequential Group C tie to end its campaign at the Thomas Cup badminton tournament on a positive note

Thomas Cup: India salvage pride with 3-2 win over Germany

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The Indian men's team today salvaged some pride with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Germany in their inconsequential Group C tie to end its campaign at the Thomas Cup badminton tournament on a positive note

Thomas Cup: India salvage pride with 3-2 win over Germany

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Thomas Cup: India salvage pride with 3-2 win over Germany

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