India Go Down Fighting To China In Badminton Asian Mixed Team Championship
NDTV
India will return home with a first-ever medal -- a bronze -- from the continental tournament, as both losing semi-finalists are awarded medals
India's campaign in the Badminton Asian Mixed Team Championship ended with a 2-3 loss to China in the semi-finals, but not before the doubles teams -- men's and mixed -- came up with inspired performances to give their opponents a tough time on Saturday. Though India lost the keenly contested rubber, they will return home with a first-ever medal -- a bronze -- from the continental tournament, as both losing semi-finalists are awarded medals.
Down 0-2 after HS Prannoy had lost the opening semi-final match to Lei Lan Xi 13-21, 15-21 and two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu had suffered a 9-21 21-16 18-21 defeat at the hands of Gao Fang Jie, the doubles teams gave a far better performance to bring India back on level terms (2-2).
Prannoy was no match for the 2016 world junior champion in mixed team event, losing in just 45 minutes, while Sindhu, who is gradually getting back to full fitness after a heel injury that kept her out for five months, gave a tough fight to her 24-year-old opponent before bowing out in one hour and 10 minutes.
The men's doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Chirag Shetty then overcame Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong 21-19,21-19 and the women's doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand defeated Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning 21-18 13-21 21-19 to level the scores at 2-2.
