India beaten 5-0 by Japan for Uber exit

Bangkok, May 23 

Saina Nehwal squandered four match points in her singles match as a young Indian women team bowed out of the Uber Cup Final after being hammered 5-0 by five-time champions Japan in a Group A match here today. The Indian team, without top shuttlers such as PV Sindhu and Ashwini Ponnappa, was no match for the top seeds. 

Saina seemed extremely fit and dominated the last two games before a series of unforced errors saw her blow away four match points to lose 19-21 21-9 20-22 to world No. 2 Akane Yamaguchi in the opening match. 

The doubles pair of  Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant lost 15-21 6-21 to Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo.  In the second singles, Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka had a huge task of taming world champion Nozomi Okuhara but the young shuttler lost 10-21 13-21 in just 26 minutes as Japan took an unassailable 3-0 lead. 

In the fourth match, Vaishnavi Bhale and Meghana Jakkampudi went down 8-21 17-21, while Aruna Prabhudesai lost 12-21 7-21 to end the proceedings. — PTI