NEW DELHI: The Indian men's badminton team experienced a narrow 2-3 defeat against China in the Badminton Asia Team Championships group tie in Malaysia. Despite singles victories by star shuttlers HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen, China secured wins in the two doubles contests to level the score at 2-2.
National champion Chirag Sen's 15-21, 16-21 loss to Wang Zheng Xing in the fifth match resulted in India conceding the tie.
Even though India had already advanced to the quarterfinals after a 1-4 win over Hong Kong on Wednesday, the absence of the star doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty was noticeable. The decision to rest Satwik and Chirag was made by the team management.
World No. 7 Prannoy secured a hard-fought 6-21, 21-18, 21-19 victory over world No. 16 Weng Hong Yang, giving India an early 1-0 lead. However, in the first doubles, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost 15-21, 21-19, 19-21 to Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yiin.
Lakshya Sen then dominated Lei Lan Xi 21-11, 21-16, but the second doubles pair of Suraj Goala and Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy fell short, losing 13-21, 9-21 to Ren Xiang Yu and Xie Hao Nan.
The Indian men's team finished second in the group, with China claiming the top spot. Both teams had already secured knockout berths, and the focus now shifts to the quarterfinals.
The Indian women's team had previously stunned China 3-2 in their group match, securing the top spot in their group.
(With PTI inputs)The TOI Sports Desk excels in a myriad of roles that capture the ...
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