The Indian men’s badminton team defeated a strong Chinese Taipei line-up 3-0 to storm into the Thomas Cup 2026 quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark, on Friday.
This is only the second time that India have reached the top four in a Thomas Cup edition. Their maiden semi-final appearance was back in 2022, when they went on to win the title.
Paris 2024 semi-finalist Lakshya Sen, 11th in the badminton rankings, got India up and running with a stunning three-game victory over world No. 6 Chou Tien-chen.
The battle between the two world championships bronze medallists saw Chou Tien-chen take the opening game before the Indian badminton player fought back to win the contest 18-21, 22-20, 21-17 in just under one-and-a-half hours.
Lakshya led a close opening game 18-16 before the Chinese Taipei shuttler took five points on the trot to take the opener.
Up 17-13 in the second game, Chou Tien-chen seemed to be racing towards a comfortable victory, but a late fightback from Lakshya saw him draw level after saving two match points.
The 24-year-old Indian shuttler completed the comeback win – his fifth over Chou in nine meetings – with a dominating display in the decider.
Another close encounter followed as Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the world No. 4 doubles pair, defeated the 14th-ranked Wang Chi-lin and Chiu Hsiang-chieh 23-21, 19-21, 21-12 in an hour and 15 minutes.
After splitting the tight two opening games, Satwik-Chirag took charge in the third to hand India a 2-0 lead. The win also extended the Indian pair’s head-to-head record against their Chinese Taipei opponents to 3-0.
Thomas Cup debutant Ayush Shetty, ranked 18th, then confirmed the victory by upsetting world No. 8 Lin Chun-Yi 21-16, 21-17 in 48 minutes.
Lin Chun-Yi has been in brilliant form on the BWF World Tour this year. He had won the India Open earlier this year before beating Lakshya Sen in the final to bag the 2026 All England Open crown back in March.
Ayush, who won the silver medal at the Asian Championships last month, was in control of the match from start to finish.
India will face either France or Japan in the Thomas Cup semis on Saturday.
Friday’s win also assured India of at least a bronze medal as both losing semi-finalists bag a podium spot.
The Indian women’s team, led by PV Sindhu, failed to make it past the group stage in the Uber Cup 2026, which is running parallel to the Thomas Cup.
READ MORE: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/thomas-cup-2026-badminton-india-vs-chinese-taipei-quarter-final-report
