JAIPUR: It was a rare moment of joy for India in Thomas Cup. An unexpected 3-2 victory over Hong Kong saw the Indian men celebrate the qualification with an impromptu on-court huddle and much more.

After all it was only the third time since 1949 that India was making it to the finals of the World team badminton championship.

The sad faces of Indian women, who lost 0-5 loss to Singapore and missed qualification to the Uber Cup finals a little earlier at the Sawai Man Singh Indoor Stadium, lit up when the men's doubles pair of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar pulled off a dramatic three-game victory over the favourite Hong Kong pair of Susanto Njoto and Liu Kwok Wa to give India the winning lead.

Chetan Anand's fighting victory over World No. 12 Ng Wei set the tone. Anand saved two game points in the first game and then converted the first match point for a 26-24, 21-19 victory.

However, Arvind Bhat played below par against Agus Hariyanto and lost after having his chances in the first game.

It was left to Anup Sridhar to put India ahead again and the National champion brought off another come-from-behind result against the Indonesian import Yohan Wiratama.

On Wednesday too Anup had won after losing the first game.

But it was Sanave-Rupesh duo that had provided the finale. Sanave in particular was simply brilliant in moving from defence to offence.

He `lifted' the shuttles amazingly and set up many finishing points.

India, which plays Korea in the semifinals, will be part of the 12-team field in the Thomas Cup finals to be held in Japan in May. India had qualified after hosting the qualifiers in 1988 and 2000.

Disappointing

Earlier, Aparna Popat and Saina Nehwal went down in three games in the first two singles to Singapore's Li Li and Xing Aiying, respectively.

B. R. Meenakshi, preferred over an off-form Trupti Murgunde lost in straight games before the doubles' pairs that followed suit. India will now figure in the playoff for the fifth spot.

The results:

Thomas Cup: Group `A': Malaysia bt Iran 5-0; Pakistan bt Nepal 5-0. Group `B': Indonesia tied 1-1 with Thailand. Group `C': India bt Hong Kong 3-2 (Chetan Anand bt Ng Wei 24-26, 21-19; Arvind Bhat lost to Agus Hariyanto 19-21, 16-21; Anup Sridhar bt Yohan Wiratama Hadikusuma 17-21, 21-18, 21-12; Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas bt Susanto Njoto and Liu Kwok Wa 11-21, 21-18, 21-10; V. Diju and Jaseel P. Ismail lost to Agus Hariyanto and Yohan Wiratama Hadikusuma 21-15, 14-21, 21-17). Group `D': Korea bt Chinese Taipei 5-0.

Uber Cup: Group `Y': Malaysia bt Indonesia 3-2; Korea bt Iran 5-0; Indonesia bt Chinese Taipei 3-2. Group `Z': Singapore bt India 5-0 (Li Li bt Aparna Popat 16-21, 21-13, 21-16; Xing Aiying bt Saina Nehwal 21-15, 10-21, 21-17; Jiang Yanmei bt B. R. Meenakshi 24-22, 21-8; Xiang Aiying and Sari Shinta Mulya bt Saina Nehwal and Aparna Balan 21-14, 21-15; Jiang Yanmei and Li Yujia bt G. Jwala and Shruti Kurian 21-19, 21-18); Hong Kong bt Pakistan 5-0; Singapore bt Thailand 3-2.

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