Qingdao (China), Feb 5 (PTI) India’s men’s and women’s teams advanced to the quarterfinals despite suffering narrow 2-3 defeats to Japan and Thailand respectively in their final group ties at the Badminton Asia Team Championships here on Thursday.
The defending champion women will face hosts China, while the men will take on South Korea in the last-eight stage.
The Indian women, who had opened with a 5-0 sweep of Myanmar, began strongly but lost momentum after taking a 2-0 lead against Thailand.
World No. 42 Tanvi, a member of India’s historic gold medal-winning team at the 2024 edition, stunned world No. 16 Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-14, 17-21, 21-18 in a gripping contest lasting one hour and three minutes.
The doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly then battled past world No. 65 Tidapron Kleebyeesun and Nattamon Laisuan 21-14, 20-22, 21-11 to hand India a 2-0 lead at the Qingdao Conson Gymnasium.
However, Rakshitha Ramraj failed to get past 19-year-old Pitchamon Opatniputh — the 2023 World Junior champion and 2026 Indonesia Masters runner-up — going down 19-21, 17-21 as Thailand pulled one back to trail 1-2.
In the second doubles, Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra fought gallantly but went down 21-19, 14-21, 15-21 to Hathaithip Mijad and Napapakorn Tungkasatan, ranked 57th in the world, allowing Thailand to level the tie and force a deciding fifth match.
Entrusted with the responsibility of taking India home, Malvika Bansod faced world No. 69 Pornpicha Choeikeewong in the final singles but could not deliver, losing 18-21, 14-21 in a 40-minute clash.
Men surrender 2-0 lead against Japan ========================== Having already qualified, India rested Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth against Japan.
After taking a strong 2-0 lead, the next three matches slipped away, though qualification was already secured.
Former world junior bronze medallist Ayush Shetty gave a good account of himself on way to a 21-18, 15-21, 21-11 win over world No. 13 Kento Nishimoto, while two-time World Championships medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated world No. 9 Yugo Kobayashi and Takuro Hoki 21-18, 15-21, 21-12.
But India lost the next three matches.
HS Prannoy went down 16-21, 11-21 to world No. 19 Yushi Tanaka, the pairing of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy lost to Kakeru Kumagai and Hiroki Nishi, world No. 31, and Tharun Mannepalli went down 21-12, 14-21, 11-21 to world No. 23 Koki Watanabe.
Former India coach Vimal Kumar felt it was an opportunity lost, saying the presence of the two players could have helped India win the tie.
“It was disappointing not to see Lakshya and Srikanth in the playing line-up because their presence would have helped us to win against Japan. Last time also we lost to Japan closely. I don’t how the team management decided to not field players in form,” Vimal told PTI.
India will get another chance to prove their worth when the men take on Korea and the women cross swords against China.
Powerhouse China has opted to use a largely backup squad but will still have world No. 10 women’s singles player Gao Fang Jie and world No. 4 women’s doubles pair Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xia providing much of the thrust as they look to regain the title they won 10 years ago.
Korea boast some strong doubles pairs, including world No. 1 Seo Seung Jae and Kim Won Ho. PTI ATK ATK AH AH
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