India's shuttlers once again came up with a domineering performance to trounce the United States 4-1 in their second Group 3B league encounter in the World Team Badminton Championships, for the Sudirman Cup in Beijing on Wednesday.
The Indians, who had thrashed Wales 4-1 in the opening tie on Tuesday, now take on Scotland in their final league encounter on Thursday and are favourties to top the sub-group.
The winner of the two sub-groups (3A and 3B) would meet in a play-off to decide which team is promoted to Group 2 in the next edition of the event.
The Indians, cheered by officials and staff members of the Indian Embassy in Beijing, were given a winning start by the mixed doubles pair of V Diju and Jwala Gutta, who got the better of T Gunawan and M Mesinee 15-4, 12-15, 15-7 in 41 minutes.
Arvind Bhat doubled the lead when he defeated Raju Rai 15-13, 15-13 and Trupti Murgunde, who is shouldering the responsibility of the women's singles in the absence of Aparna Popat, thrashed Eva Lee 11-4, 11-1 in just 22 minutes to give India an unassailable 3-0 lead.
The US reduced the margin when H Bach and Malythong got the better of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar 17-14, 15-11 in the men's doubles, before Gutta then teamed up with Shruti Kurian to beat Lee and Mesinee 15-10, 15-6 and complete the scoreline.
Meanwhile, Scotland defeated Wales 4-1 in the other encounter to register their first win in the sub group.
They had lost their opening tie against the USA 2-3 on Tuesday.
Commenting on the matches, India coach Hadi Sugiyanto said he was extremely happy with the team's performance and hoped that they would continue their winning streak even tomorrow.
"My boys and girls performed well and now we are looking forward to the last match in this league against Scotland," the Indonesian said.
