India's men's badminton teams failed to dominate their first games in Group B of the ongoing Total BWF Thomas Cup Finals 2016, winning only two of the five scheduled games over the Thailand team at the Kunshan Sports Center in Jiangsu, China on Sunday.

India's current world No. 21 Ajay Jayaram's valiant fight ended in a loss in the first match as the 29-year-old Chennai native yielded to Thailand's Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in three sets 21-14, 12-21, 21-16. The 26-year-old Thai shuttler, who currently holds the 26^th spot in the BWF world rankings, wrapped up the match in 46 minutes.

Like Us on Facebook

Olympic-bound duo B. Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri suffered a 17-21, 6-21 defeat at the hands of Thai tandem Nipitphon Puangpuapech and Bodin Issara in the men's doubles.

The third match gave India its first win as men's singles world No. 34 B. Sai Praneeth eased past Khosit Phetpradab with two-straight sets triumph 21-16, 21-11. The 24-year-old Andhra Pradesh-born player claimed victory in just 36 minutes and cut the deficit within 1 with the scores at 2-1 in favor of the Thailand team.

However, the duo Puavaranukroh Dechapol and Kedren Kittinupong won the second doubles match against Akshay Dewalkar and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy 21-15, 14-21, 21-15. The tandem's victory gave Thailand an unconquerable 3-1 lead.

Thus, the victory of world No. 180 Sourabh Varma over the world No. 203 Adulrach Namkul for India's team was considered insignificant.

Team India will be facing Hong Kong, who was swept by the Indonesia 5-0.

Meanwhile, in Group C, Malaysia got the better of the England team with a 4-1 victory. Kien Keat Koo and Boon Heong Tan are the only Malaysians who were not so fortunate to win their opening game as they succumbed to a 21-17, 13-21, 21-18 defeat to the English duo Peter Briggs and Tom Wolfenden.

Tagsbwf rankings, bwf 2016, thomas & uber cup, ajay jayaram, B. summeth reddy, manu attri