Sai Pratheek.Ok (left) and Dhruv Kapila hit a return to China’s He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu throughout their men’s doubles quarter-final match on the Thomas and Uber Cup badminton match in Chengdu, in China’s southwest Sichuan province on May 2, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Lakshya Sen continued his domination of Asian Games gold medalist Li Shi Feng and the remainder of the Indian squad pushed overwhelming favourites and hosts China in all of the matches however ended up on the incorrect facet of the 1-3 rating line in the quarterfinals of the BWF Thomas and Uber Cup 2024 in Chengdu on Thursday.
The loss meant that India’s problem in the competitors got here to an finish as the women had misplaced to Japan by an equivalent margin earlier in the day.
With India’s prime men’s singles participant HS Prannoy making a comeback following some well being points and doubles star Satwiksairaj Rankireddy additionally returning after a shoulder damage, Indians had been at all times the underdogs regardless of being the defending champions.
But the gamers took the combat to their opponents as HS Prannoy took the opening sport in opposition to Shi Yu Qi earlier than going down 15-21, 21-11, 21-14.
The world no. 9 later admitted that he was nonetheless getting again to his finest and the lengthy match a day earlier might have additionally performed a component in the third sport.
“We had a long match yesterday while China had an off day. It may have also played a part once the rallies got long in the third game. But I am happy with the way I fought and will take a lot of learning from this tournament,” he mentioned.
The Chinese then prolonged their lead as Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang obtained the higher of Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty 21-15, 11-21, 21-12.
Sen, who had a 6-3 head-to-head file in opposition to Li earlier than this match, then obtained India on the scoreboard as he shrugged off a nasty begin and the lack of the opening sport to register a dominating 13-21, 21-8, 21-14 win and stored Indian hopes alive.
Reflecting on his win the World No. 13 mentioned, “Conditions were a bit tricky and home crowd was pumped up because they were 2-0 up. The do-or-die situation did play in my head in the first game. But the first two games got over quickly and weren’t tiring so the decider was all about controlling the net and being steady”.
But upsetting the world no. 11 mixture of Ren Xiang Yu and He Ji Ting was at all times going to be an uphill job for the scratch pairing of Dhruv Kapila and Sai Pratheek Ok. To their credit score, the children confirmed a variety of gumption earlier than going down 10-21, 10-21.
In the women’s quarterfinal, Ashmita Chaliha and Isharani Baruah pushed their a lot increased ranked opponents however couldn’t trigger an upset.
In the primary singles, Ashmita saved a match level in opposition to World no. 11 Aya Ohori and led 11-9 on the interval in the decider. But Ohori used all her expertise to lift the tempo instantly after to take 5 straight factors and then went on to wrap the match 21-10, 22-24, 21-15 in an hour and seven minutes.
The world no. 4 mixture of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida then doubled Japan’s lead with a 21-8, 21-9 victory over nationwide champions Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra.
Isharani Baruah then gave a very good account of her skills as she stored tempo with former world champion Nozomi Okuhara and even lead 14-11 in the opening sport earlier than the skilled Japanese turned the tables by profitable 10 of the subsequent 11 factors.
The second sport went equivalent to the primary as both gamers stayed neck and neck until 9-9 earlier than Okuhara marched forward for a 21-15, 21-12 win to seal the quarterfinals in Japan’s favour.
Result:
Women: India misplaced to Japan 0-3 (Ashmita Chaliha misplaced to Aya Ohori 10-21, 22-20, 15-21; Priya Konjengbam/Shruti Mishra misplaced to Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida 8-21, 9-21; Isharani Baruah misplaced to Nozomi Okuhara 15-21, 12-21)
Men: India misplaced to China 1-3 (HS Prannoy misplaced to Shi Yu Qi 21-15, 11-21, 14-21; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty misplaced to Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang 15-21, 21-11, 12-21; Lakshya Sen bt Li Shi Feng 13-21, 21-8, 21-14; Dhruv Kapila/Sai Pratheek Ok misplaced to He Ji Ting/Ren Xiang Yu 10-21, 10-21).
