Teen sensation Anmol Kharb left the badminton court in tears owing to an ankle injury as an under-strength India women suffered a 0-5 defeat to mighty China in their final group A fixture of the Uber Cup here on Tuesday.
Having already qualified for the quarter finals by picking up successive wins against Canada and Singapore, Ashmita Chaliha sat out the contest against the 15-time champions. India are competing without double Olympic-medallist P V Sindhu, who opted out of the tournament.
It was a reality check for the young players as they could not take a single game from their Chinese counterparts during the five-match tie. To add to India’s woes, 17-year-old Anmol was forced to retire after twisting her ankle during the second singles match.
Olympic champion and world No.2 Chen Yu Fei started off the proceedings for China with an easy 21-12, 21-10 win over 83rd ranked Isharani Baruah.
National champions Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra, ranked 67, were no match for reigning world champions Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan, who doubled China’s lead with a 21-13, 21-12 win. After losing the first game 9-21 and trailing 1-4 in the second against Han Yue, Anmol rolled her right ankle while trying to defend a point.
She received medical attention but the pain didn’t seem to subside and the ankle looked swollen, forcing her to retire from the match giving China a 3-0 unassailable lead.
Liu Shen Shu and Tan Ning defeated Simran Singh and Ritika Thaker 21-9 21-10, while Tanvi Sharma lost 7-21 16-21 to Wang Zhi Yi as China completed the 5-0 drubbing of India. India will end the group stage proceedings in second place behind China.
