Indian men and women bowed out in the quarterfinals of the Thomas and Uber Cup in Chengdu, China on Thursday. While China dethroned India 3-1 in the Thomas Cup, Japan blanked India 3-0 in Uber Cup.
Only Lakshya Sen secured a point for India, as HS Prannoy, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty and the second doubles team of Dhruv Kapila Sai Pratheek lost their matches. Lakshya beat Li Shi Feng 13-21, 21-18, 21-14 in the third match to reduce the margin.
World No. 9 Prannoy slumped after winning the first game against world No. 2 Shi Yu Qi 21-15, 11-21, 14-21. Satwik-Chirag failed to get past the world No. 1 pair of Wang Chang and Liang Wei Keng 15-21, 21-11, 12-21. This is their fifth loss in six meetings.
The makeshift pair of Dhruv and Sai had a lot riding on their performance but they were no match for He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu, losing 10-21, 10-21.
Prannoy blamed lack of rest for poor show. "China had an off day yesterday. We had a long day and by the time we returned it was 1.30-2 am. That made some difference," Prannoy said.
Chirag said that they were not at their best. "The rallies were short, whenever we played long rallies we won. When we play opponents like them, we need to be at our best but we weren't," Chirag said.
Earlier, Ashmita Chaliha was the only Indian to take a game off the Japanese. India failed to capitalise on the absence of Japan's best player Akane Yamaguchi. Ashmita lost to Aaya Ohori 10-21, 22-20, 15-21. Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra were no match for Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida. Nozomi Okuhara made short work of Isharani Baruah 21-15, 21-12.
RESULTS (QUARTERFINALS)
Shi Yuqi bt HS Prannoy 15-21, 21-11, 21-14; Liang Keng/Wang Chang bt Satwik Chirag 21-15, 11-21, 21-12; Li Shi Feng lost to Lakshya Sen 15-21, 21-11, 21-14; He Ji/Ren Xiang bt Dhruv/Sai 21-10, 21-10)
Uber Cup: India lost to Japan 0-3 (Ashmita Chaliha lost to Aya Ohori 10-21, 22-20, 15-21; Priya Konjengbam/Shruti Mishra lost to Nami Matsuyama/Chiharu Shida 8-21, 9-21; Isharani Baruah lost to Nozomi Okuhara 15-21, 12-21)
