India rout Macau in Thomas Cup

Ajay Jayaram led India to a 5-0 whitewash of hosts Macau in the Thomas Cup, but it was a losing start for the Indian women's team, which lost 2-3 to Malaysia, in the Uber Cup Asia Zone tournament on Tuesday.

In the Thomas Cup, World No 27 Jayaram started the proceedings for India with a 21-9, 21-11 victory, in 24 minutes, in the first singles.

Sanave Thomas and V Diju then spanked Ion Weng Lo and Lo Keng Lao 21-6, 21-2 in 17 minutes to make it 2-0.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallist P Kashyap next saw off Chi Chong Ng 21-10, 21-7 in another lop-sided second singles match that lasted 20 minutes.

Akshay Dewalkar and Pranav Chopra then beat Kin Fai Leong and Chi Man Lam 21-11, 21-13.

Playing the third and last singles, Sai Praneeth B showed no mercy as he thrashed Hok Man Lou 21-5 21-8 to complete the whitewash.

However, in the Uber Cup, the women failed to get past the Malaysians, despite Saina Nehwal and rising shuttler P V Sindhu winning their respective singles.

Playing the first singles, world No 4 Saina took a little over half an hour to send Jing Yi Tee packing at 21-17, 21-16

But the Commonwealth Games' gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa found the going tough and lost to Eei Hui Chin and Pei Tty Wong 12-21, 16-21 in 34 minutes.

With the scores level 1-1, National champion P V Sindhu bounced back from a game down to beat Lydia Li Ya Cheah 16-21, 21-13, 21-9 in 41 minutes to give India a 2-1 lead.

However, Malaysia again drew parity, with their women's doubles pair of Liu Ying Goh and Vivian Kah Mun Hoo registering a 21-17, 21-17 win over Prajakta Sawant and Pradnya Gadre.

Locked 2-2, a lot was expected of Sayali Gokhale, but the world No 126 couldn't get past Li Lian Yang. She lost 21-11, 15-21, 20-22 in 56 minutes.

India take on the mighty Chinese on Wednesday in Group W.