Sindhu-led India crash out of Uber Cup, lose 0-3 to Thailand in quarters; Men’s team enter Thomas Cup semis

World No. 7 Sindhu was off colour for the second consecutive day as she squandered one-game lead to go down 21-18 17-21 12-21 against Intanon, ranked eighth, in a 59-minute first women’s singles match. The defeat means Sindhu now trails Intanon 4-7 on head-to-head record.

India were down 0-2 when the women’s doubles pair of Shruti Mishra and Simran Singhi lost 16-21 13-21 against the Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai. It was no better for Aakarshi Kashyap, who surrendered 16-21 11-21 to Pornpawee Chochuwong in the second singles match that lasted 42 minutes.

As Thailand took an unassailable 3-0 lead, the remaining two matches of the tie became redundant and were not played. In the second women’s doubles contest, the Indian pair of Tanisha Crasto and Treesa Jolly was to face Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard, while Ashmita Chaliha was scheduled to play Busanan Ongbamrungphan.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sindhu lost in straight games 15-21 14-21 against world number four An Seyoung in India’s final Group D match, where it was blanked 0-5 by Korea. But the loss hardly made any difference as India, by then, had already sealed a quarterfinal berth after ensuring a top-two finish in the group after back-to-back victories over Canada and USA.

Later, there was much to cheer for India as the men’s team beat Malaysia 3-2 to enter the semifinals of the Thomas Cup.

Lakshya Sen lost 21-23, 9-21 to Lee Zii Jia in the opening singles before doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty git it past Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin 21-19, 21-15 to restore parity.

Kidambi Srikanth then beat Ng Tze Yong 21-11, 21-17 to give India a 2-1 lead before Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala lost 19-21, 17-21 to Aaron Chia and Teo Ee Yi in the reverse doubles.

It all boiled down to the decider where HS Prannoy beat Leong Jun Hao 21-13, 21-8 to take India into the semifinals.