Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: India’s campaign at the Badminton Asia Team Championships ended in disappointment on Friday as both the women’s and men’s teams were knocked out in the quarterfinals.The defending champion women’s team crashed out after a 0-3 loss to a second-string China, with the absence of star shuttler PV Sindhu proving costly.
India failed to get off to a strong start as world No. 42 Tanvi Sharma, who had impressed earlier in the tournament, lost in straight games to world No. 10 Gao Fang Jie, struggling to match her opponent’s pace and power. In the doubles, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly fought hard against world No. 4 Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian but went down in two close games after letting slip advantages in both. Facing elimination, Rakshitha Ramraj battled for 69 minutes in the second singles before losing in three games, sealing India’s exit and ending their title defence.Earlier in the day, the men’s team also bowed out after a 1-3 defeat to Korea, hampered by the absence of key players Lakshya Sen and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Lakshya was rested due to back pain, while Satwik was unavailable for personal reasons. Ayush Shetty suffered a heartbreaking loss in the opening singles, missing several match points in an 84-minute contest against Yoo Tae Bin. The makeshift doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Hariharan Amsakarunan then lost in straight games. Kidambi Srikanth briefly revived India’s hopes with a straight-games win in the second singles, but the second doubles defeat for Pruthvi Krishnan and K Sai Pratheek sealed Korea’s victory.
