Arvind Bhat during his match against Henry Tam of New Zealand on Sunday. (AFP)

Sendai: Anup Sridhar upset world No. 33 John Moody as India whitewashed New Zeland 3-0 to storm into the quarter finals of the World Badminton men’s team championship for the Thomas Cup here Monday.

India, missing its No. 1 shuttler Chetan Anand to an injury, sealed the victory in an emphatic fashion with Sridhar, Arvind Bhat, and Nikhil Kanetkar winning the three singles matches in the five-match pre-quarter final tie.

The two inconsequential doubles matches were abandoned.

India now take on Denmark, who reached the last eight stage after topping group C, for a place in the quarter finals to be played in Tokyo from Wednesday.

National champion Sridhar, ranked 64, provided a perfect start with a 21-15, 21-9 mauling of Moody in the first singles in just 26 minutes.

Bhat then tamed newcomer Henry Tam 21-17, 21-5 to give a 2-0 lead to India.

Kanetkar, who replaced Anand and was playing in his first match of the championship, faced stiff challenge from Craig Cooper but pushed his game one notch up in the final game for 21-13, 18-21, 21-10 victory in 40 minutes.