Sudirman Cup: Indian team bows out after 5-0 loss to Malaysia

Suzhou (China), May 15 (IANS) India crashed out of the Sudirman Cup badminton tournament after losing 0-5 to Malaysia in the second tie of Group C, here on Monday.

The mixed doubles duo of Dhruv Kapila and Ashwini Ponnappa were up against the world No. 8 pair of Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie in the first of the five-match tie. The Indian duo tried hard before losing 16-21, 17-21 in 35 minutes.

Kidambi Srikanth, then, suffered a straight game 21-16, 21-11 against Malaysian star shuttler Lee Zii and failed to get the team back on track.

Jia's win gave Malaysia a comfortable 2-0, after the opening win of mixed doubles pair.

In the third rubber, ace shuttler P.V. Sindhu faced a must-win situation against Goh Jin Wei but the 2019 world champion could not deliver as the Malaysian came through 14-21, 21-10, 22-20, securing victory for Malaysia with 3-0 unassailable lead.

Notably, each tie comprises five matches -- women's singles, men's singles, mixed doubles, women's doubles and men's doubles. The team which wins three of these five matches takes the tie and pockets one point.

Then, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered an 18-21, 19-21 defeat at the hands of the world champion pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Chik in the fourth match.

The women's doubles duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who put the Indians on the scorecard on Sunday's tie, failed to continue their form as they lost 15-21, 13-21 to Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan, thus Malaysia completed a sweep over India.

In their first encounter in Group C on Sunday, India lost 1-4 against Chinese Taipei.

After losing the first two ties, India placed third in Group C with Chinese Taipei and Malaysia finishing as the top two teams to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Indian badminton team has never won a medal at the Sudirman Cup. Quarterfinal finishes in 2011 and 2017 are India's best results in the biennial mixed-team event.

The Sudirman Cup 2023 also kickstarted the badminton qualification window for the Paris 2024 Olympics and points earned at the tournament will count towards the players' Road to Paris rankings.

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