The men’s duo of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila were the only bright spot as India suffered a 1-4 loss to Thailand in their group A opener, jeopardising the chances of qualifying for the knockout stage of the Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton championship here on Sunday.
With PV Sindhu and the men’s doubles duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy missing in action, the onus was on senior players such as Kidambi Srikanth and women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy to carry the team through.
However, Srikanth and the duo of Ashwini and Sikki lost their respective matches, while the young Malvika Bansod also went down fighting in women’s singles as India’s fate against Thailand was sealed after the first four matches.
Former world No. 1 Srikanth went down 9-21, 19-21 to Kunlavut Vitidsarn.
Sikki and Ashwini lost 21-23, 8-21 to world No. 8 combination of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai. Arjun and Kapila’s 21-18, 21-17 win over Supak Jomkoh and Kittinupong Kedren in men’s doubles was the only highlight for India.
