PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth
– Photo: Social Media
Star shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu suffered defeats in their respective matches as India went down 0-5 to Malaysia in their second Group C encounter in the Sudirman Cup. A day earlier, the Indian team had to face a 1-4 defeat against Chinese Taipei. For the second time in a row, India had to make a group stage exit in the mixed team championship.
In the last edition played in Finland also India could not enter the knockout round. Srikanth went down 16-21, 11-21 to world number eight Li Ji Jia. World No. 12 Sindhu lost 21-14, 10-21, 20-22 to Goh. The pair of Dhruv Kapila and Ashwini Ponnappa was defeated 21-16 21-17 by Goh Soon and Lei Shevon Jamie in 35 minutes. India was out after losing three matches.
In the last two matches, the pair of Satwik-Chirag lost 18-21, 19-21 to Aaron Chia and Soh Woo Yik. In women’s doubles, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly lost 15-21, 13-21. Chinese Taipei and Malaysia advanced to the quarterfinals as the top two teams from this group. India now has to play Australia in the last group match. Sindhu said that it is very disappointing. In the third game, I was trailing by eight points but I managed to reduce the gap and eventually lost by two points was too much to lose. I made mistakes in the second game. Every shot I was hitting was either getting tangled in the net or falling out. I should have taken the lead from the start in the third game
