Sudirman Cup : India qualify for knockout stage

Gold Coast (Australia), May 24 

The Indian badminton team sealed a place in the knockout stage of the Sudirman Cup mixed team championship despite Indonesia pulling off a stunning 3-2 victory over Denmark here today. India had kept themselves in the race for a quarterfinal spot after shocking fifth seeded Indonesia 4-1 in a thrilling match on Tuesday. 

In the ‘Group of death’, all the three teams — India, Denmark and Indonesia —  won one match each but India and Denmark advanced to the knockouts on the basis of games won and lost in the group matches. Denmark (6-4) topped the group, followed by India (5-5) and Indonesia (4-6) after the completion of the league stage. It’s just the second instance of India making the knockout stage in the tournament; they did it first time in 2013.

Despite India stunning Indonesia yesterday, their knockout chances depended on the Denmark-Indonesia tie. Thankfully for India, Indonesia couldn’t beat Denmark by a margin that could have pushed India to third spot in the group stage. — PTI

Denmark vs Indonesia

Mixed doubles: Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto (Indonesia) beat Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen 21-12 21-13 

Men’s singles: Anthony Sinisuka (Indonesia) beat Viktor Axelsen 21-13 17-21 14-21 

Men’s doubles: Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen (Denmark) beat Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo16-21 24-22 23-21 

Women’s singles: Fitriani (Indonesia) beat Mia Blichfeldt  22-24 21-15 21-14

Women’s doubles: Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen (Denmark) beat Greysia Polii and Apriyani Rahayu 21-18 13-21 21-13