Sendai: Anup Sridhar upset world No. 33 John Moody as India whitewashed New Zealand 3-0 to storm into the quarter-finals of the World badminton men's team championship for the Thomas Cup on Monday.
India, missing its No. 1 shuttler Chetan Anand to an injury, sealed the victory in an emphatic fashion with Sridhar, Arvind Bhat, and Nikhil Kanetkar winning the three singles matches in the five-match pre-quarter-final tie.
The two inconsequential doubles matches were abandoned.
National champion Sridhar, ranked 64, provided a perfect start for India with a 21-15 21-9 mauling of Moody in the first singles in just 26 minutes.
Bhat then tamed new comer Henry Tam 21-17 21-5 to give a 2-0 lead to India.
Kanetkar, who replaced Anand and was playing in his first match of the championship, faced stiff challenge from Craig Cooper but pushed his game one notch up in the final game for 21-13 18-21 21-10 victory in 40 minutes.
"I think we are confident in the singles, so I expected our singles players to win comfortably," said India coach Vimal Kumar.
India now take on Denmark, who reached the last eight stage after topping group C, for a place in the quarter-finals to be played in Tokyo from Wednesday.
However, Kumar said India's chances were only 30 per cent against Denmark.
"Of course, 70 per cent for Denmark. We have to play really well. I would be happy for my players if we could pull off a couple of matches, maybe one or two singles, I would be really happy," said Kumar.
"We have nothing to lose and to get into the quarters is a good achievement for India. We shall do our best against Denmark and see if we can pull off a few matches," he added.
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