Indian men beat Aus 4-1 in Thomas Cup

P Kashyap and Arvind Bhat starred in a routing of Australia as India advanced to the last eight.

New Delhi: P Kashyap and Arvind Bhat starred in a 4-1 routing of Australia as India advanced to the last

eight stage of the Thomas Cup Finals but the women`s team went down 1-4 to Korea, despite Saina Nehwal`s thrilling win over Seung Hee Bae in the Uber Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Tuesday. Kashyap set the ball rolling for India, spanking Jeff Tho 21-8, 21-10 in a 26-minute match, while Arvind Bhat and Gurusaidutt also won their respective matches to put India 3-0 ahead after the first three singles. Arvind beat Chad Whitehead 21-6, 21-12, while Gurusaidutt took 25 minutes to pack off Stuart Gomez 21-15, 21-13. The only blot in the men`s team was the 20-22, 18-21 thrashing Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar received at the hands of Glenn Warfe and Ross Smith in first men`s doubles. However, V Diju and Akshay Dewalkar swept past Raj Veeran and Chad Whitehead 21-12, 21-17 to wrap up the day with a 4-1 victory over the hapless Aussies. "It was a satisfying day for us but I am a little surprised by the doubles loss. It was unexpected but otherwise everybody played upto the mark. There will be a draw of the lot and we will come to know tonight whom we play tomorrow," Arvind told reporters from Kuala Lumpur. Asked about the conditions, Arvind said, "It is a little windy inside and so there is a bit of drift so the shuttle moves more in the air. But we cannot complain because it is same for our rivals." The women`s Uber Cup team, which had already reached the quarters yesterday, however, had a tough day as none apart from Saina could get past the formidable Koreans. World number six Saina started the Indian proceedings, carving out a hard-fought 22-20, 18-21, 17-21 win over Seung Hee Bae in a 66-minute marathon battle. But the Korean were quick to draw parity with Hyo Jung Lee and Min Jung Kim seeing off Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa 21-11, 21-13 in the first women`s doubles match. Levelled 1-1, pressure was on Aditi Mutatkar to bring India back into the tie and the Pune girl snatched the first game 23-21 from Ji Hyun Sung to start on a positive note. But the world number 26 Korean bounced back to take her team to a 3-1 lead, rendering the last two matches of merely academic interest. Shruti Kurian and Aparna Balan went down 13-21, 11-21 to Kyung Won Lee and Jung Eun Ha in the second women`s doubles, while a gritty Sayali Gokhale played a brilliant game before losing 10-21, 21-19, 12-21 to Yun Hwa Lee in 47 minutes. PTI