Uber Cup: India women crash out in group stage after 0-5 loss to China

Twotime Olympic medallist PV Sindhu squandered a strong position as India failed to capitalise on chances going down 05 to China to end their campaign at the Uber Cup Finals hereThe Indian womens team had opened with a 23 loss to hosts Denmark before bouncing back with a 41 win over Ukraine China the most successful team in Uber Cup history with 16 titles was always going to be a formidable opponent with India having lost to them three times in their last three major tiesWhile Sindhu remained the leader of the group Isharani Baruah and Devika Sihag were drafted in place of Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma for the other two singlesSindhu raised hopes as she looked set for a statement win before letting slip an 1812 lead in the decider to go down 1621 2119 1921 to world No 2 Wang Zhiyi in the opening singles handing China a 10 lead in the mustwin Group A tie on MondayIt would have taken a miracle to upset the defending champions thereafter and though the young Indian shuttlers showed fight they lacked the finishing touch and faltered at crucial momentsPriya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra were no match for world No 1 pair Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning losing 1121 821 in the first doubles Tasked with keeping the tie alive Isharani Baruah produced a fastpaced display to trouble Tokyo Olympic champion Chen Yufei but left too many shuttles and committed errors at the netThe world No 38 Indian missed a sitter at 2019 in the opening game as the world No 4 Chinese eventually sealed a 2220 2113 win in 44 minutes to give China an unassailable 30 leadThe pair of Treesa Jolly and Kavipriya Selvam also had their moments before going down 1021 2112 1921 in a 59minute clash against Luo Xu Min and Zhang Shu XianWorld No 43 Devika Sihag who had won her maiden Super 300 title in Thailand this year too made a strong start but failed to sustain the momentum losing 2119 1721 1021 to world No 97 Xu Wen Jing in the third singlesSindhu vs WangSindhu recovered from an early 47 deficit in the first game drawing level at 99 before reeling off five straight points to take an 119 lead at the interval She maintained control with sharp net play and attacking smashes to move to 1410 but Wang raised her intensity late using deception and precise placement to claw backFrom 1616 the Chinese edged ahead and closed out the game with a series of winners The Indian responded aggressively in the second game opening up a 94 lead with a barrage of smashes Wang fought back with her trademark angles and deception to level at 1010 but Sindhu held her nerve in the closing stagesLeading 1816 she earned two game points and converted on the second with a powerful smash to force a deciderSindhu carried the momentum into the third game racing to a 93 lead and extending it to 116 at the break She continued to dictate play stretching the advantage to 1812 with relentless attacking strokesHowever the momentum swung dramatically thereafter Wang mounted a remarkable comeback stringing together six consecutive points to level at 1818 The Chinese then edged ahead 1918 before Sindhu drew level once againWang earned match point with a steep smash and sealed the contest when Sindhu found the net completing a stunning turnaround It was a good match It would have been really good if I would have converted it into a win I had chances but it wasnt like there were some easy points every point was hard fought Every point we were fighting literally very hard said SindhuAll eyes will be on the mens team to avenge the loss when it takes on China on Wednesday in Thomas Cup India the 2022 champions sealed a place in the Thomas Cup Finals quarterfinals with a commanding 50 victory over Australia in a Group A tie on MondayIndia and China now occupy the top spots in the group The 2022 champions had opened with a 41 win over Canada while China blanked Australia 50 and beat Canada 41 earlier in the dayThe two sides will clash in their final group tie on Wednesday to decide the group topper China boast a formidable lineup featuring world No 1 Shi Yu Qi world No 7 Li Shi Feng and world No 15 Weng Hong Yang in singles while world No 6 pair Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang along with He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu lead their doubles strengthThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever