India lost 4-1 to Chinese Taipei in its Group C opening tie in the Sudirman Cup here at Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre in China on Sunday.
Opening the Indian campaign in a mixed doubles match against world no. 30 Yang Po-Hsuan and Hu Ling Fang, Sai Pratheek and Tanisha Crasto won the first game 21-18. But, they could not retain the lead, losing a topsy-turvy second game 24-26 and the deciding third game 6-21.
In the second match of the tie, H.S. Prannoy, India’s top-ranked men’s singles player, suffered straight games (21-19, 21-15) defeat to world no. 5 Chou Tien Chen in the second match. This was Prannoy’s sixth defeat to Tien Chen.
In the tie’s third match, P.V. Sindhu was up against Tai Tzu Ying, who last month won her third Asian Championship title in Dubai. The battle between world no. 12 Sindhu and world no. 3 Tai went into a three-setter, with the Taipei shuttler taking the lead, winning the first game 21-14, and Sindhu forcing the decider, winning the second game 21-18.
In the deciding third game, Tai held her composure and beat Sindhu 21-17 to ensure a 3-0 victory for Chinese Taipei. It was Tai’s eighth straight win over Sindhu, who last won against the Taipei stalwart in 2019 at the BWF World Championships.
The tie featured five matches. In the men’s doubles fixture, world no. 12 Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin made it 4-0 for Chinese Taipei, winning a three-setter (21-13, 17-21, 21-18) against Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, India’s top-ranked doubles pair.
India managed a win on the board when Gayatri Gopichand Pullela and Trisha Jolly beat Lee Chia Hsin and Teng Chun Hsun 15-21, 21-18, 21-13 in the women’s doubles match.
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