"If only HS Prannoy could be fit"- Fans react as India settle for silver in Badminton Team Final at Asian Games 2023 

After a stunning performance against South Korea in the Badminton Men’s Team semi-final a day earlier, India took on China in the gold medal match on Sunday. India had to settle for silver as China came back from 2-0 down to win the tie 3-2 and take home gold.

There was a setback even before the match started as HS Prannoy, India’s highest-ranked player, was ruled out of the match with a back injury. However, Lakshya Sen began the proceedings in a fabulous fashion when he won against World No.6 Shi Yu Qi in three sets 22-20, 14-21, 21-18.

This was followed by a stunning performance by Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in the men's doubles. In this match between the World No.2 and World No.3 ranked pairs, the Indian pair carved out a comfortable 21-15, 21-18 victory.

Then it was over to Kidambi Srikanth, the former World No. 1 and star of the semi-final match, to take India home. He faced Li Shifeng in the third match of the tie, looking to win India a historic gold medal. Srikanth started off well taking the lead in the first set but the World No.8 came back to take it in a tight contest. The latter eventually won the match 24-22, 21-9 to make the tie score 2-1.

In the fourth tie, the scratch pairing of Dhruv Kapila and Sai Pratheek was up against the World No.8 Liu Yuchen and Ou Xuanyi. The former looked out of depth in the first set losing 6-21. They managed to perform better in the second set but the Chinese pair was just too big a challenge for this new pair, who ended up losing it 15-21.

It all came down to the final tie between Mithun Manjunath and Weng Hong Yang. The World No.53 was pitted against the World No.20 in the deciding match. The Indian was outclassed in the first set 12-21 and later 4-21 in the second set, sealing the gold for China.

Despite the loss, fans were elated with the team's silver medal-winning performance and took to X (formerly Twitter) to express their happiness. Here are some of the best reactions:

Well, even the star from the semi-final couldn't contain his excitement and tweeted:

India creates history at Asian Games

With this silver medal, India won their first medal in the team category at the Asian Games since 1986. It was 37 years ago at the Asiad held in Seoul where the team of Prakash Padukone, Uday Pawar, Ravi Kunte, Vimal Kumar, Leroy D’Sa, and Sant Misra had won bronze.

The ongoing Asian Games was the first time ever that the Indians managed to reach the gold medal match in the Team category. They did so after defeating Nepal 3-0 in the quarterfinals and then beating South Korea 3-2.