Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram's valiant fight went in vain as the country's badminton team (men's) lost 2-3 to Thailand in their lung-opener at the Thomas Cup badminton tournament here on Sunday.
Jayaram did not get off to the start he wanted and had to play catch-up for much of the contest. Though he won the second match, he had to surrender the tie against Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk 16-21, 21-12, 14-21 in 46 minutes.
Olympic-bound men's doubles pair of B. Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri next came out second best against Thailand's Bodin Issara and Nipitphon Puangpuapech losing the tie 17-21, 6-21 as India slumped to a 0-2 deficit.
It needed a brilliant effort from B. Sai Praneeth in the men's singles encounter to light Indian hopes again as the Hyderabad born player grabbed a 21-11 21-16 win against Khosit Phetpradab in 36 minutes to make it 1-2.
But in the second doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Akshay Dewalkar lost 15-21, 21-14, 15-21 to the Thailand duo of Puavaranukroh Dechapol and Kedren Kittinupong.
The fixture lasted for 56 minutes after which Thailand took an unassailable 3-1 lead and the fifth contest between Sourabh Varma and Adulrach Namkul became inconsequential. Verma beat Namkul 21-17, 16-21, 21-19 to reduce the margin of defeat.
Earlier, Jayaram surged to a 7-5 lead in the opening match but Tanongsak broke the India at 8-8 and eventually bagged it. Jayaram made a strong comeback and took the second game quite easily. But in the decider the World No.21 looked tired and Tanongsak used it to his advantage.
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--IANS
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