India’s women’s badminton team crashed out of the Asian Games after losing 1-3 to hosts Japan in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, with PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma losing their singles matches.
Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, gave India a fighting start against world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi but went down 23-21, 18-21, 6-21 in the opening singles clash at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium.
Unnati then lost 16-21, 18-21 to 2022 world junior champion and current world No. 7 Tomoka Miyazaki, putting Japan 2-0 ahead.
World Championships bronze-winning pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand kept India alive with a 21-17, 21-16 victory over Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto in the first doubles match.
However, Tanvi Sharma could not force a decider against former world champion Nozomi Okuhara, losing 12-21, 10-21 as Japan sealed a 3-1 victory and ended India's medal hopes.
Sindhu had recovered from a 13-17 deficit to take the opening game 23-21 against Yamaguchi. The Japanese shuttler levelled the contest by winning the second game 21-18 before pulling away in the decider.
Sindhu fell 6-14 behind in the third game as Yamaguchi took control and eventually sealed the match with a precise return.
India had entered the quarterfinals after a 3-0 win over Kazakhstan in the Round of 16, with Sindhu, Hooda and Tanvi securing straight-game victories.
India’s women had been seeking to improve on their record of one Asian Games team medal, a bronze won in 2014.
