Jiangsu [China], May 15 : The Indian badminton team's hopes of making their place into the quarter-finals in the Sudirman Cup 2023 ended on a bitter note. They ended up losing 5-0 to Malaysia at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre in China on Monday.
After losing against Chinese Taipei in the opening Group C encounter on Sunday, India ended up out of the race to make the knockout rounds. India will face Australia in their final group tie on Wednesday but even a win won't help them make the top two.
Both Chinese Taipei and Malaysia have won two ties each and will advance to the final eight from Group C.
The first of the five-match tie against Malaysia saw India's mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Ashwini Ponnappa lose 21-16, 21-17 to Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie.
The Indian pair got off to a slow start and lost the first game 21-16. As the duo managed to enforce a comeback, Dhruv Kapila and Ashwini Ponnappa started the second game strongly but the Malaysian duo absorbed the pressure and gave Malaysia a 1-0 lead.
In the second clash, world No. 22 Kidambi Srikanth took the court against World No. 8 Lee Zii Jia in the men's singles match.
Srikanth raced to an early 4-1 lead but he was unable to sustain the intensity as Lee Zii Jia fought back to take an 11-8 lead going into the first break. The Malaysian then won four points on the trot and romped home to take the first game 21-16.
In the second game, Kidambi Srikanth was no match for the fierce Lee Zii Jia as the Malaysian took the match 21-16, 21-11.
With India trailing 2-0, everything fell on two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu to get the team back in the hunt. The former world champion faced world No. 30 Goh Jin Wei in a must-win tie.
PV Sindhu stormed to an 11-5 lead in the first game and despite some resistance from Goh Jin Wei, the Indian stood victorious in the challenge against the Malaysian to take away the first game.
The momentum started to shift in the second game. The Malaysian first outclassed the higher-ranked PV Sindhu to force a decider before sealing the 53-minute match with a hard-fought win in the third game. The final score read 14-21, 21-10, 22-20 in Wei's favour.
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