Sudirman Cup: India shuttlers lose 2-3 to Malaysia

Dongguan China The lack of quality doubles players came back to haunt Indian badminton team as they suffered a 23 loss to Malaysia in their opening tie of the prestigious Sudirman Cup here today Saina Nehwal and womens doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa won their respective matches but K Srikanth failed to breach the defence of Lee Chong Wei The mens and mixed doubles pairs also bite the dust as India began their campaign on a losing note hereIndias Saina Nehwal looks on after losing a point against Malaysias Tee Jing Yi during their womens singles match at the 2015 Sudirman Cup world badminton championships in Dongguan south Chinas Guangdong province on May 11 2015 AFPIndia who reached the knockout stage of the biennial tournament in 2011 edition will next take on threetime champions Korea on Wednesday Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy B started the proceedings for India but their fight ended with a 1521 1621 loss to Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong as Malaysia drew first blood Olympic bronze medallist Saina then brought India back in the contest with a narrow 2422 2113 win over world number 56 Tee Jing Yi in a 44minute womens singles matchThe mens singles contest between world number four Srikanth and twotime Olympic silver medallist Lee who is playing his first tournament after serving a backdated eight month ban for doping was expected to be a mouthwatering affair but it ended with the former world number one notching up a 2116 2115 win to hand over the lead to Malaysia once againCommonwealth Games silver medallists Jwala and Ashwini the took the court and the duo avenged their Glasgow final loss to Vivian Kah Mun Hoo and Woon Khe Wei with a hardfought 2118 1921 2115 win over the world number 11 pair However in the decider N Sikki Reddy and Arun Vishnu could not get it across the world number 70 pair of Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying and went down 1421 1821 in a 40minute match as India went down 23 in the endIn womens singles match Saina seemed to take her own time to get into the groove as she led 129 at one stage But Tee soon clawed her way back and managed to lead 1615 after the Indian exhausted a video referralTee then turned the tables to not only lead 1917 but also moved into game point thrice at 2019 2110 and 2221 However Saina saved the game point each time and with the help of a cross court dribble and a body smash moved to 2322 before grabbing the game when Tee hit the netIn the second game Saina pulled up her socks as she looked sharper and it reflected on the scoreline as she led 115 at the break Tee tried her best but she could not break the Indian who wrapped up the match when Tee hit wideIn the mens singles match Srikanth showed good fighting spirit but he failed to deal with the drift in the court and made too many unforced errors to see the match slip out of his handsLee on the other hand shunned all extravagance did not make too many errors and played within himself to tame the Indian Initially Srikanth gave Lee a good fight as he retrieved everything thrown at him and also judged the shuttle well to move into a 87 leadLee showed glimpses of his past self but despite making few errors held the psychological edge at 1110 going into the break He maintained his dominance with a 1611 lead but Srikanth narrowed it down to 1316 After some exceptional rallies by the players Srikanth came as close as 1617 The Indian tried a couple of body smashes but both went long as Lee clinched the opening game without much adoLees smooth movement helped him to play with ease as he defended well even as Srikanth in desperation kept hitting wide and long to allow the Malaysian lead 83 in the second gameSrikanth did not give up and brought the lead down to 78 But Lee once again distanced himself to lead 117 at the breakAt 1013 Srikanth played a back hand flick from an awkward position to give some cheers to the Indian fans but a series of errors from him not only allowed Lee to take a 1711 lead but also to grab the match point at 2014The Indian saved one before hitting long once again as Lee handed Malaysia a 21 lead after the third match Jwala and Ashwini who had lost to the same rivals during the finals of Glasgow Commonwealth Games then took the court and straight away put pressure on the Malaysians engaging in some fast ralliesJwala was good at the nets while Ashwini manned the back court well troubling the opponents with her hard smashes as they combined well to lead 1210 at one stage Woon and Hoo kept breathing down their neck but eventually the Indian combo grabbed the first game when the Malaysians hit longThe second game was yet another rollercoaster ride as Jwala and Ashwini led 1110 at the break However after the interval Woon and Hoo grabbed the lead at 1513The Indian pair reeled off four straight points to make it 1715 but they committed a few errors at this crucial juncture to see Woon and Hoo roar back into the matchIn the decider Jwala and Ashwini fought back from 26 down to eke out a slender 1110 lead at the interval The Indian combo led 1512 but Woon and Hoo drew level with three straight pointsAt 1815 Jwala won a point on serve and then produced two superb smashes to win the fourth match