INDIA ENTERS QUARTERS IN ASIA TEAM BADMINTON C’SHIP DESPITE LOSS

The Indian men and women's teams on Thursday qualified for the quarterfinals despite losing to their respective opponents in the Badminton Asia Team Championship here.

In the women's event, P V Sindhu notched up the only win for India in their 1-4 loss to Japan. The Indian women advanced to quarterfinals despite the loss.

Sindhu extended her domination over world No.2 Akane Yamaguchi with a straightgame win. Despite the loss, India qualified for the quarterfinal in both the women's and men's competition.

The Indian women finished second in Group W with one win and one loss ahead of Hong Kong China but behind Japan. The Sindhu-led squad had defeated Hong Kong China 3-2 in its opening group tie.

The men's team also lost to Indonesia 2-3 in a tight contest but still qualified for the quarterfinals from Group D. The Indians had beaten lower-ranked Philippines and Maldives in their earlier matches.

Taking the court first, Olympic silver-medallist Sindhu dished out a fine attacking performance to beat Yamaguchi 21- 19 21-15 in 36 minutes.

By virtue of this win, world No.4 Sindhu now enjoys a 5-3 head-to-head record against Yamaguchi.

However, Sindhu did not get enough support from her teammates as Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli was no specialists to bring India back into the tie but both the Indian pairs went down after a good fight.

The onus was on Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant to draw parity for India but they lost 17-21, 17-21