Ladies first: Shuttlers enter 1st final with Japan shocker

Shah Alam (Malaysia), Feb 17

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India kept alive hopes of winning a first-ever gold in the Badminton Asia Team Championships after the women shuttlers progressed to their maiden final with a 3-2 win over two-time former champions Japan in a thrilling semifinal here on today.

Our girls were magical, they were excellent today. It was an outstanding performance from Ashmita, she outclassed Okuhara by raising her game to another level. Young girl Anmol also showed that we can depend on her going forward — Vimal Kumar, former India coach

The world No. 23 pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, world No. 53 Ashmita Chaliha and 17-year-old Anmol Kharb registered stunning wins in the first and second doubles match and deciding singles to take India through to the summit clash.

India will face Thailand in the final tomorrow.

Though Japan were without their world No. 4 Akane Yamaguchi, world No. 7 pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota and world No. 8 combination of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, they were still a formidable side.

Returning from a long injury layoff, Sindhu had enjoyed wins against China’s Han Yue and Hong Kong’s Lo Sin Yan Happy, but she couldn’t produce her best against the left-handed Aya Ohori as she lost 13-21 20-22 in the first singles.

Treesa and Gayatri, playing the first doubles, dished out a superlative performance to outwit world No. 6 Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 21-17 16-21 22-20 in a 73-minute contest as India drew level at 1-1.

Up against former world champion Nozomi Okuhara, who is currently ranked 20, Ashmita produced an aggressive game, using her overhead cross drops and jump smashes to good use, to record a shocking 21-17 21-14 win to hand India a 2-1 lead.

With Tanisha Crasto suffering a niggle, Sindhu then paired up with Ashwini Ponnappa but were beaten 14-21 11-21 by the world No. 11 pair of Rena Miyaura and Ayako Sakuramoto in 43 minutes.

With the five-match rubber evenly poised at 2-2, Anmol was handed the responsibility of taming world No. 29 Natsuki Nidaira, and the teen once again lived up to the expectations, claiming a 21-14 21-18 win in 52 minutes.