India was eliminated from the Sudirman Cup 2023 after an unimpressive campaign , following losses to Chinese Taipei and Malaysia, on Monday.
Drawn in group C with Malaysia, Australia and Chinese Taipei, India started its campaign with a 1-4 loss to Chinese Taipei on the opening day, with Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand being the only winners.
Against Malaysia on the second matchday, its fate looked similar.
The pair of Dhruv Kapila and Ashwini Ponnappa opened the day with a loss in straight games Malaysia’s Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie, going down 16-21, 17-21. Kidambhi Srikanth followed suit against Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia with a score of 16-21, 11-21.
While P. V. Sindhu showed some hope in the third match, winning the first game against Goh Jin Wei, but the Malaysian made a quick comeback, winning the next two 21-10, 22-20.
“It is a bit disappointing because I was trailing by too many points in the third set and I came back, I should have taken it,” Sindhu said after the loss.
“Coming very close and losing those two points, of course its very disappointing. Overall it was a good match, I should have maintained the lead from the third game or should have been equal atleast but I gave her a huge lead and that made the difference.”
While India still has one match left, but a loss in the first three games in a five-game set means Malaysia has already won the contest, earning a place in the quarterfinals.
The men’s duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty was defeated by Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik 18-21, 19-21, to add to India’s woes the women’s doubles pair Treesa and Gayatri lost to Tan Pearly and Thinaah Muralitharan 15-21, 13-21 as India sunk 0-5 to Malaysia.