The Indian men’s and women’s badminton teams suffered quarter-final exits from the Thomas and Uber Cup 2024 in Chengdu, People’s Republic of China on Thursday.
The Indian men’s team’s Thomas Cup title defence came to an end in the last eight stage after a 3-1 loss to hosts China. Meanwhile, a young Indian women’s team got blanked 3-0 by reigning champions Japan in the Uber Cup quarter-finals.
In the Uber Cup, world No. 53 Ashmita Chaliha put up a strong fight against the 11th-ranked Aya Ohori in the opening singles rubber. The contest was closely fought over one hour and seven minutes but it eventually ended in a 21-10, 20-22, 21-15 loss for Chaliha.
National doubles champions Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra were no match for world No. 4 Nami Matsuyama and Chihara Shida. The Japanese pair made light work of their Indian opponents and secured a 21-8, 21-9 in just 33 minutes.
Already down 0-2 in the tie, the onus fell on 20-year-old Isharani Baruah to rescue India. Despite leading 14-11 and 9-7 in the first and second games, Isharani, 83rd in the BWF world rankings, failed to avoid an Indian defeat and lost 15-21, 12-21 to former world No. 1 Nozomi Okuhara.
The inexperienced Indian women’s team, without two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu, beat Canada and Singapore in the group stage to advance to the knockout stage.
The curtains also came down on the Indian men’s Thomas Cup camapaign after a heart-breaking 3-1 defeat to hosts China. Lakshya Sen recorded the only win in this tie as he came back from a game down to win the second singles rubber.
The tie began with world No. 9 H. S. Prannoy colliding against world No. 2 Shi Yu Qi. Despite taking the first game, Prannoy was unable to give India an early lead and lost 15-21, 21-11, 21-14 in one hour and six minutes.
Up against world No. 1 Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, world No. 3 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty did well to force a decider after losing the first game. However, the Chinese pair showed plenty of composure and won the contest 21-15, 11-21, 21-12 in 51 minutes.
The Indian shuttlers, who were all pushed to the limit in their marathon group-stage encounter against Indonesia yesterday, showed signs of fatigue on Thursday. “We had a long match yesterday while China had an off day. It may have also played a part once the rallies got long in the third game. But I am happy with the way I fought and will take a lot of learning from this tournament,” said Prannoy.
Staring at the brink of elimination at 0-2, Lakshya Sen restored hope for India with a grand showing against world No. 4 Li Shi Feng, the reigning Asian Games champion. Sen, ranked 13th in the world, came back from a game down to secure a 13-21, 21-8, 21-14 victory in one hour and 10 minutes.
However, buoyed by the support from the home crowd, world No. 11 He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Ju eased past Dhruv Kapil and Sai Pratheek 21-10, 21-10 in the second doubles rubber in 34 minutes and secured the tie 3-1 in China’s favour.
The Indian men’s badminton team beat Thailand and England before suffering a loss to Indonesia in the final group-stage encounter.
2024-05-02 14:41:00
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