India lose to Chinese Taipei 1-4 in Sudirman Cup opener

In Badminton, India made a dismal start to their Sudirman Cup campaign, going down to the formidable Chinese Taipei 1-4 in their group-C opening round tie in Suzhou, China, on Sunday.

 

In the opening mixed double contest, the Indian pair of Tanisha Crasto and K Sai Prateek lost 21-18, 24-26, and 6-21 to world no. 30 Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang.

 

World Number 9 HS Prannoy then lost 19-21, 15-21, to World No. 5 Chou Tien Chen as India lagged 0-2 after the first two matches.

 

P. V. Sindhu then lost to former world no. 1 Tai Tzu Ying



in the women’s singles event.

 

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then lost 13-21, 21-17, 18-21 to Lee Yang and Ye Hong Wei in the men's doubles as India further slumped to 0-4.

 

However, in the women's doubles Treesa Jolly and P Gayatri Gopichand then eked  out a 21-15, 18-21, 13-21 win over Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun to help India avoid a clean sweep.

 

India will now play against Malaysia today and Australia on Wednesday for a spot in the quarterfinals.