Sendai (Japan): Rupesh Kumar and V. Diju rose to the occasion to pull off the deciding doubles match and give India a thrilling 3-2 win over Germany in the Thomas Cup World Badminton finals here on Saturday.

Kumar and Diju, a scratch combination put together after the doubles specialist Sanave Thomas pulled out, defeated the world No. 17 pair of Michael Fuchus and Roman Spitko 21-18, 21-12 for a crucial group A victory for the Indians.

This was India’s maiden victory in the tournament and it helped them avoid a tougher opponent in the first match of knockout stage.

India will now play New Zealand in the pre-quarter finals on May 1.

The New Zealanders finished at the bottom of group B after losing both their league matches to Korea and Indonesia.

India commenced their journey on the wrong note with Chetan Anand, world ranked 24th, going down to Bjoern Joppien of Deutschland 21-17, 21-12.

But Anup Sridhar and Arvind Bhat won the second and third singles matches to put India 2-1 ahead before the Germans levelled the scores through their win in the first doubles.