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Badminton Asia Team Championship: The Indian men’s badminton team put up a spirited performance against China but ended on the losing side of a 2-3 scoreline in the Group A clash of the Badminton Asia Team Championship at Selangor, Malaysia, on Thursday.

With their spot in the quarterfinals assured after their win over Hong Kong on Wednesday, India opted to rest the Asian Games gold medallist doubles combination of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and former world No.1 Kidambi Srikanth in order to keep them fresh for the knock-out stage.

World No.7 H.S Prannoy also needed time to find his footing in the opening match against Weng Hong Yang but showed why he is considered such a formidable force in the team events by staging an impressive fightback to win 6-21, 21-18, 21-19 in an hour and 13 minutes.