Badminton Asia Team Championship: India advance to QFs despite Japan loss

New Delhi: India’s women advanced to the Badminton Asia Team Championship quarter-finals despite losing 1-4 to Japan in Alor Setar, Malaysia, on Thursday.

India’s only win in the tie was courtesy of P.V. Sindhu’s straight-games victory over world no. 2 Akane Yamaguchi. The loss didn’t harm India’s last eight qualification hopes.

India are in the quarter-finals of both the women’s and men’s competitions. The women finished second in Group W with a win and a loss, ahead of Hong Kong and China, but behind Japan.

India’s men registered thumping 5-0 wins over lower-ranked Philippines and Maldives to qualify for the last eight stage from Group D. On Thursday, Sindhu took the court in India’s first match against Japan.

The Rio Olympics silver medallist dished out an attacking performance to upstage Yamaguchi 21-19, 21-15 in 36 minutes.

The win extended world her head-to-head record against Yamaguchi to 5-3. Despite the positive start, Sindhu’s team mates failed to match her level.

Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli went down to world no.13 Sayaka Sato 12-21, 10-21 to help Japan draw level at 1-1.

Doubles specialist Ashwini Ponnappa was then tamed 14-21, 12-21 by world no.16 Aya Ohori in the third singles match as Japan surged ahead 2-1.

The onus was on the doubles team to pull India back into the contest. But Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant were defeated 17-21, 17-21 by Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto in the first match to hand Japan an unassailable 3-1 lead.

The script followed a similar pattern in the tie’s inconsequential fifth clash as Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy lost 18-21, 18-21 to Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi.