Suzhou (China), May 14
Double Olympics medallist PV Sindhu’s gallant fight ended in agony as India made a dismal start to their Sudirman Cup campaign, going down 1-4 to Chinese Taipei in their Group C opening round tie here today.
Tanisha Crasto and K Sai Pratheek started on a positive note in the mixed doubles contest but they ran out of steam in the end, losing 21-18 24-26 6-21 to world No. 30 Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang. “We should’ve pulled off the second game,” said Crasto. “In the third game we just went a little blank. We didn’t stick to the plan. This is learning for both of us, what can be done in the next match. But I’m really happy with the way we played,” she added.
World No. 9 HS Prannoy then couldn’t find his ‘A’ game, going down 19-21 15-21 to world No. 5 Chou Tien Chen in the men’s singles.
Sindhu was handed the responsibility of bringing India back into the tie but it was always going to be a tough task against her nemesis and former world No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying. The 27-year-old Indian, who hasn’t been in the best of form lately, produced a gritty performance after the opening game reversal but couldn’t go the distance with Tai managing a 21-14 18-21 21-17 win in an hour and four minutes. It allowed Chinese Taipei to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match tie.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty fought hard before losing 13-21 21-17 18-21 to Lee Yang and Ye Hong Wei in the men’s doubles match in a little over an hour.
World No. 17 Treesa Jolly and P Gayatri Gopichand showed tremendous grit as they recovered from an opening game loss to eke out a 21-15 18-21 13-21 win over Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun in the final women’s doubles match to help India avoid a sweep.
India will face Commonwealth Games mixed team champions Malaysia in their second group match tomorrow. Malaysia beat Australia 5-0 to top the group. — PTI
Double delight
New Delhi: Tokyo Paralympics champion Pramod Bhagat capped off his impressive run with two gold medals at the Thailand Para Badminton International tournament here today.
Pramod defeated England’s Daniel Bethell in the men’s singles SL3 final before pairing up with compatriot Sukant Kadam to claim the gold medal in the men’s doubles SL3-SL4 category. Pramod won the opening game 21-18 when Daniel decided to retire because of an injury. In the doubles category, the Indians beat compatriots Nitesh Kumar and Tarun 18-21 21-14 21-19.
Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj emerged the champion in the men’s singles SL4 category after beating compatriot Sukant 21-14 17-21 21-11 in the final. In women’s singles, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan and Thulasimathi Murugesan signed off with silver medals in SH6 and SU5, respectively.