India bowed out of the Thomas Cup badminton championship on Wednesday after losing 0-3 to European powerhouse Denmark at the quarter-final stage.
India were always expected to struggle against the might of world number 3 Peter Gade and number 7 Kenneth Jonassen, along with the top doubles combination in the world Jons Erikson and Martin Hansen, and the Scandinavians proved their superiority, wrapping up the tie without conceding a game.
India's top shuttler Chetan Anand, who missed the tie against Germany due to injury, was back on court but did not pose any challenge to Gade in the opening rubber, going down 21-14, 21-8 in 28 minutes.
National champion Anup Sridhar went down to Jonassen 21-12, 21-11 in just 34 minutes in the second match.
The doubles combination of Rupesh Kumar and V Diju gave a good account of themselves against Erikson and Hansen before losing 21-14, 21-19 in 34 minutes.
Nevertheless, the Indians will return home satisfied as they achieved what they had set out to do.
Coach Vimal Kumar had set his eyes on a quarter-final berth and it was mainly due to his meticulous planning that his team reached the last eight at the prestigious men's team championship.
