Asia Team Championships: PV Sindhu & Co assure medal, but men bow out

PTI

Shah Alam (Malaysia), February 16

Led by PV Sindhu, the Indian women shuttlers assured themselves of a historic first-ever Badminton Asia Team Championships medal by cruising to a 3-0 win over Hong Kong but their male counterparts failed to replicate the feat, going down

2-3 to Japan in the quarterfinals here today.

After stunning top seeds China to top the group stage, the women blanked Hong Kong riding on wins from Sindhu, Ashmita Chaliha and the doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto.

They will now face top seeds Japan, who beat China 3-2 in another quarterfinal.

The men produced a gallant effort but a nervous Kidambi Srikanth imploded in the end, blowing away a 19-12 lead in the third game of the deciding fifth match as they fell short against a second-string Japan in a tightly-contested match. The pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and Lakshya Sen won their respective matches, but HS Prannoy and MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila went down in contrasting fashions.

India had won two bronze medals in the men’s team event in the 2016 and 2020 editions.

Returning from a long injury layoff, Sindhu registered a hard-fought 21-7 16-21 21-12 win over a lower-ranked Lo Sin Yan Happy.

Tanisha and Ponnappa then doubled the lead by getting the better of world No. 18 combination of Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam 21-10 21-14 in 35 minutes.

Ashmita wrapped up the tie with a comfortable 21-12 21-13 triumph over Yeung Sum Yee, assuring the team of at least a bronze.

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