The Hindu : Sport / Badminton : India finishes seventh

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Tuesday, Nov 03, 2009
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India finishes seventh

CHENNAI: India finished seventh in the just concluded junior World badminton championship held at Alor Setar in Malaysia. On the last occasion India was placed fourth.

“We could have retained that position this time also but failed in the quarterfinal to Chinese Taipei, losing the closely fought last match (girls’ doubles),” said Sanjiv Sachdeva, the National junior coach, who had accompanied the team along with his colleague Surinder Mahajan.

The tie was 2-2 after four matches and everything boiled down to the performance of Sikki Reddy and P.C. Thulasi, but they fell after leading by a game.

India’s best show in this match came from Sai Praneeth, who won his singles and, partnering Pranav Chopra, the doubles too.

India thus had to play Japan and thereafter Hong Kong for the 5-8 placings. “We lost to Japan 1-3 but beat Hong Kong 3-2 to take the seventh spot. This is the first victory for India over Hong Kong in seven years,” Sachdeva said.

Overall 21 countries had taken part in the team championships. India could have fared better but for the surprisingly low performance by the girls in this mixed-team competition, he said. India had started with a 3-2 win over Philippines and then a 4-1 verdict over Canada to reach the quarterfinal stage.

Other team members: Boys: B. Sumeeth Reddy, H.S. Prannoy, K. Nanda Gopal and Eshan Naqvi; Girls: Prajakta Sawant, Saili Rane, Megha Merin and P.V. Sindhu.

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