India bowed out of the Thomas Cup badminton championship on Wednesday after losing 0-3 to European powerhouse Denmark at the quarter-final stage.

India were always expected to struggle against the might of world number 3 Peter Gade and number 7 Kenneth Jonassen, along with the top doubles combination in the world Jons Erikson and Martin Hansen, and the Scandinavians proved their superiority, wrapping up the tie without conceding a game.

India's top shuttler Chetan Anand, who missed the tie against Germany [Images] due to injury, was back on court but did not pose any challenge to Gade in the opening rubber, going down 21-14, 21-8 in 28 minutes.

National champion Anup Sridhar went down to Jonassen 21-12, 21-11 in just 34 minutes in the second match.

The doubles combination of Rupesh Kumar and V Diju gave a good account of themselves against Erikson and Hansen before losing 21-14, 21-19 in 34 minutes.

Nevertheless, the Indians will return home satisfied as they achieved what they had set out to do.

Coach Vimal Kumar had set his eyes on a quarter-final berth and it was mainly due to his meticulous planning that his team reached the last eight at the prestigious men's team championship.