Indian women bow out of Uber Cup after losing 0-3 to Japan

Photo for representational purpose. Picture Courtesy/iStock

The Indian women's badminton team crashed out of the Uber Cup after losing to Japan in the quarter-finals here on Thursday while the men completed their group engagements in the Thomas Cup with a defeat to China.

The men's team, which is already through to the quarterfinals, suffered a 1-4 defeat in their last group match, setting them up against Denmark in the last-eight stage on Friday.

Competing without top stars like Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and hampered by the injury-forced ouster of Saina Nehwal, the Indian women were outplayed by their Japanese opponents, who claimed the tie by establishing a 3-0 advantage. Malvika Bansod was no match to World No. 5 Akane Yamaguchi as she lost 12-21, 17-21 in the first match.

The pair of Tanisha Carsto and Rutaparna Panda then suffered an 8-21, 10-21 defeat against the duo of Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto as Japan took a 2-0 lead. Aditi Bhatt was outplayed 16-21, 7-21 by Sayaka Takahashi as Japan sealed the best-of-five tie.

In the Thomas Cup match, only the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty could manage a win as they beat He Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong 21-14 21-14.
The win by Rankireddy and Shetty duo boosted the confidence of the Indian team after a struggling Kidambi Srikanth began the day for India with a 12-21, 16-21 loss to Shi Yu Qi.

Sameer Verma lost to Lu Guang Ju 21-14, 9-21, 22-24 as India trailed 1-2. The other doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila went down fighting 24-26, 19-21 to Liu Cheng and Wang Yi Lyu before Kiran George lost to Li Shi Feng 15-21, 17-21 in the singles match.

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