Sri Lanka beat Israel in a thriller to top sub-group 4B and earn the right to play Philippines in the Vivo BWF Sudirman Cup today.

The winner of the Sri Lanka-Philippines tie will top Group 4 and place 29th overall.

Israel, with two previous wins, tenaciously kept themselves in the tie despite falling behind in the first and third matches. Ariel Shainski and Misha Zilberman brought them back into the contest by winning the Men’s Doubles over Mestiyage Don Dilina Gunatilleke/Nimmika Thisara to make it 2-2. However Lekha Handunkuttihettige (featured image)/Rathnasiri Kapuru were easy 21-9 21-5 winners over Pugach Alina/Dana Kugel in just 19 minutes to take the tie away from Israel.

In the same sub-group, Kazakhstan notched their first win by beating Seychelles 4-1 to finish third behind Sri Lanka and Israel.

In sub-group 3B, Vietnam overcame an early loss to beat Australia 3-2, while Switzerland held off a strong challenge from Italy (3-2) to finish third in the sub-group behind Vietnam and Australia. Vietnam next face Czech Republic in the contest for top spot in Group 3.

Philippines topped sub-group 4A blanking Nigeria with surprising ease, 5-0.