New Delhi: India had a disappointing performance at the Asian Badminton Team Championship on Friday as both the women’s and men’s teams were eliminated in the quarter-finals.The defending champion women’s team lost 3-0 to second-tier Chinese team and were eliminated due to the absence of star players PV Sindhu It proved costly. The Indian team failed to get off to a strong start. Tanvi Sharma, ranked 42nd in the world, who had performed well earlier in the match, lost in straight games to Fangjie Gao, ranked 10th in the world. She struggled to match her opponent in terms of speed and power. In doubles, Gayatri Gopichand and Teresa Jolly competed against the world’s number one player. No. 4 Jia Yifan and Zhang Shuxian lost their advantage in two close games and were eventually eliminated. Rakshita Ramraj, who was facing elimination, fought hard for 69 minutes in the second singles match before eventually losing three games before India crashed out and ended their title defence.Earlier in the day, the men’s team also bowed out with a 1-3 loss to South Korea in the absence of key players Lakshadweep Sen and Satwiselaji Rankireddy. Lakshya was rested due to back pain while Satwik was absent due to personal reasons. Ayush Shetty suffered a heartbreaking loss in her first singles match, missing several match points in an 84-minute match against Yoo Tae-bin. The makeshift doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Hariharan Amsarkarunan then lost in straight sets. Kidabi Srikanth A straight-games win in the second singles match briefly revived India’s hopes, but losses to Pruthvi Krishnan and K Sai Pratheek in the second doubles match sealed South Korea’s victory.
