NEW DELHI: Star Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu could not perform their best as India meekly surrendered 0-3 to Malaysia in the second Group C match of the mixed team championships in Suzhou, China on Monday.
With this loss, India were knocked out of the prestigious Sudirman Cup badminton tournament. India finished third in the group with Chinese Taipei and Malaysia ending up as the top two teams to qualify for the quarterfinals.
India will take on Australia in their final Group C match on Wednesday.
Srikanth was too erratic and lost in straight games in the men’s singles contest while Sindhu fought back hard in the deciding game after squandering an opening game advantage only to go down in the end to world No. 30 Goh Jin Wei.<\/p>\n
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It was always going to be an uphill task for Dhruv Kapila and Ashwini Ponnappa<\/a> to tame the world No. 8 pair of Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie and the Indian combination tried their heart out before losing 16-21, 17-21 in 35 minutes.
An error-prone Srikanth then couldn’t get India’s campaign back on track, going down 16-21, 11-21 to world No. 8 Lee Zii Jia in a lop-sided men’s singles contest as the team was 0-2 down after the first two matches.
World No. 12 Sindhu then erased a 2-11 deficit in the third game but couldn’t go the distance, losing 21-14, 10-21, 20-22 to Goh in the women’s singles as India conceded a 0-3 lead to Malaysia in the five-match tie.
“It is a bit disappointing. In the third game, I was trailing by 8 points but I came back. Coming so close and losing those two points was very disappointing,” Sindhu said.
“The momentum was not there in the second game. I was making mistakes, whatever I was playing, it was going to the net or out. In the third game, I should have maintained a lead from start but I gave her a huge lead. There were unforced errors and it made a huge difference.”
Sindhu said she “came into rhythm after few points” in the decider.
“At 20-20, I felt there should have been a bit more rallies. My strokes hit my frame and went mid court and she finished it off.
“After 20-all, it was anybody’s game because you can make mistakes, there are lot of pressure, you are nervous, you want to keep the shuttle in the court, you want to score a point, there are a lot of mixed emotions.”
(With PTI inputs)<\/span><\/div>\n