Sudirman Cup badminton: India off to poor start

SUZHOU: PV Sindhu’s gallant fight ended in agony as India made a dismal start to its Sudirman Cup campaign, going down to the formidable Chinese Taipei 1-4 in its Group C opening round tie here on Sunday.

Tanisha Crasto and K Sai Prateek started on a positive note in the mixed doubles match, but ran out of steam towards the end, losing 21-18, 24-26, 6-21 to Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang. Men’s World No.9 HS Prannoy could not bring his ‘A’ game, enduring a 19-21, 15-21 defeat to World No.5 Chou Tien Chen and leaving India trailing 0-2.

Up against her nemesis and former World No.1 Tai Tzu Ying, Sindhu was handed the responsibility of bringing India back into the tie. Sindhu, who has not been in the best of form lately, produced a gritty performance after the opening-game reversal, but could not go the distance, with Tai Tzu managing a 21-14, 18-21, 21-17 triumph. Tai Tzu’s victory 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.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand recovered from an opening-game loss to eke out a 15-21, 21-18, 21-13 win over Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun in the women’s doubles match and help India avoid a clean sweep. India will face Malaysia in its second Group C match on Monday.