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| India Puts Up A Valiant Fight But Loses To China In Badminton Asian Mixed Team Championship |
WA Sports: India's campaign in the Badminton Asian Mixed Team Championship ended with a close 2-3 loss to China in the semifinals on Saturday. Although India lost the rubber, they will return home with a bronze medal, their first-ever medal from the continental tournament, as both losing semifinalists are awarded medals.
The Indian team started on the back foot, as HS Prannoy lost the opening semifinal match to Lei Lan Xi 13-21, 15-21, and two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu suffered a defeat at the hands of Gao Fang Jie 9-21, 21-16, 18-21.
However, the doubles teams of Dhruv Kapila and Chirag Shetty in the men's doubles and Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand in the women's doubles gave a fantastic performance to level the scores at 2-2. The men's doubles pair overcame Ji Ting and Zhou Hao Dong 21-19, 21-19, while the women's doubles pair defeated Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning 21-18, 13-21, 21-19.
The mixed doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto couldn't guide India into the finals, as Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin proved to be too strong in the decider, winning 21-17, 21-13 in just 34 minutes.
India had staged a remarkable comeback on Friday to defeat Hong Kong 3-2 and qualify for the semifinals, ensuring their first-ever medal in the continental tournament.
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