New Delhi: Lakshya Sen continued his domination of Asian Video games gold medalist Li Shi Feng and the remainder of the Indian squad pushed overwhelming favourites and hosts China in all of the matches however ended up on the unsuitable facet of the 1-3 rating line within the quarterfinals of the BWF Thomas and Uber Cup 2024 in Chengdu on Thursday.
The loss meant that India’s problem within the competitors got here to an finish as the ladies had misplaced to Japan by equivalent margin earlier within the day.
With India’s high males’s singles participant HS Prannoy making a comeback following some well being points and doubles star Satwiksairaj Rankireddy additionally returning after a shoulder harm, Indians had been all the time the underdogs regardless of being the defending champions.
However the gamers took the battle to their opponents as HS Prannoy took the opening recreation towards Shi Yu Qi earlier than taking place 15-21, 21-11, 21-14.
The world no. 9 later admitted that he was nonetheless getting again to his greatest and the lengthy match a day earlier might have additionally performed a component within the third recreation.
“We had an extended match yesterday whereas China had an off day. It could have additionally performed a component as soon as the rallies received lengthy within the third recreation. However I’m proud of the way in which I fought and can take lots of studying from this event,” he stated.
The Chinese language then prolonged their lead as Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang received the higher of Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty 21-15, 11-21, 21-12.
Sen, who had a 6-3 head-to-head document towards Li earlier than this match, then received India on the scoreboard as he shrugged off a foul begin and the lack of opening recreation to register a dominating 13-21, 21-8, 21-14 win and stored Indian hopes alive.
Reflecting on his win the World No. 13 stated, ”Circumstances had been a bit difficult and residential crowd was pumped up as a result of they had been 2-0 up. The do-or-die scenario did play in my head in first recreation. However the first two video games received over shortly and weren’t tiring so the decider was all about controlling the web and being regular”.
However upsetting the world no. 11 mixture of Ren Xiang Yu and He Ji Ting was all the time going to be an uphill activity for the scratch pairing of Dhruv Kapila and Sai Pratheek Okay. To their credit score, the kids confirmed lots of gumption earlier than taking place 10-21, 10-21.
Within the ladies’s quarterfinal, Ashmita Chaliha and Isharani Baruah pushed their a lot larger ranked opponents however couldn’t trigger an upset.
Within the first singles, Ashmita saved a match level towards World no. 11 Aya Ohori and led 11-9 on the interval within the decider. However Ohori used all her expertise to lift the tempo instantly after to take 5 straight factors after which went on to wrap the match 21-10, 22-24, 21-15 in an hour and 7 minutes.
The world no. 4 mixture of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida then doubled Japan’s lead with a 21-8, 21-9 victory over nationwide champions Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra.
Isharani Baruah then gave a great account of her talents as she stored tempo with former world champion Nozomi Okuhara and even lead 14-11 within the opening recreation earlier than the skilled Japanese turned the tables by successful 10 of the following 11 factors.
The second recreation went equivalent to the primary as each gamers stayed neck and neck until 9-9 earlier than Okuhara marched forward for a 21-15, 21-12 win to seal the quarterfinals in Japan’s favour.
Consequence:
Girls: India misplaced to Japan 0-3 (Ashmita Chaliha misplaced to Aya Ohori 10-21, 22-20, 15-21; Priya Konjengbam/Shruti Mishra misplaced to Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida 8-21, 9-21; Isharani Baruah misplaced to Nozomi Okuhara 15-21, 12-21)
Males: India misplaced to China 1-3 (HS Prannoy misplaced to Shi Yu Qi 21-15, 11-21, 14-21; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty misplaced to Liang Wei Keng/Wang Chang 15-21, 21-11, 12-21; Lakshya Sen bt Li Shi Feng 13-21, 21-8, 21-14; Dhruv Kapila/Sai Pratheek Okay misplaced to He Ji Ting/Ren Xiang Yu 10-21, 10-21)
