World No5 Kidambi Srikanth led the charge as India drubbed minnows Maldives 5-0 to make a resounding start in the men's team competition of the Asia Badminton Championships, here on Wednesday.
Srikanth started the proceedings, easily outplaying Shaheed Hussein Zayan 21-5, 21-6 in the first singles, before B Sai Praneeth got the better of Ahmed Nibal 21-10, 21-4 in just 17 minutes.
The rest of the tie followed a similar script as Sameer Verma toyed with Mohamed Arsalaan Ali to post a 21-5, 21-1 as India took an unassailable 3-0 lead.
In the doubles matches too, the Indians hardly broke a sweat.
In the first doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Shaheed Hussein Zayan and Shaheem Hassan Afsheem 21-8, 21-8 before Arjun M R teamed up with Shlok Ramachandran to tame the pair of Mohamed Arsalaan Ali and Ahmed Nibal 21-2, 21-5.
India next play formidable Indonesia on Thursday while the women will be up against another tough opponent in Japan.
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