Alor Setar, February 8: World No.5 Kidambi Srikanth led the men' team to a 5-0 win over the Maldives in the Badminton Asia Team Championships at the Sultan Abdul Halim Stadium.

In the men's singles, Srikanth thrashed Shaheed Hussein Zayan 21-5, 21-6, while Singapore Open Super Series winner B Sai Praneeth outplayed Ahmed Nibal 21-10, 21-4. Sameer Verma empowered India to a 3-0 lead as he beat Mohamed Arsalaan Ali 21-5, 21-1.

In the men's doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Shaheed Hussein Zayan and Shaheem Hassan Afsheem 21-8, 21-8. In the last match of the day, the duo of Arjun MR and Shlok Ramachandran won over Mohamed Arsalaan Ali and Ahmed Nibal 21-2, 21-5.

The men's team had earlier defeated the Philippines with the same margin in the tournament which also serves as Asian qualification for the 2018 Thomas and Uber Cup.

They will next face Indonesia on Thursday as the women's team will meet Japan. Earlier, the women's team led by Rio Olympics silver -medallist P.V. Sindhu defeated Hong Kong by 3-2.