Indian shuttlers lost a chance to win a medal in the mixed team event in the badminton competitions here on Monday.
The team which was blanked 3-0 by England in the semifinals late on Sunday night looked jaded right through the bronze medal match against Singapore before losing 3-2.
P. Kashyap and P.V. Sindhu won their singles titles but with the Indian pairs failing in all the three doubles, it was the Singaporeans who had the last laugh. In truth, even in their wins, both Kashyap and Sindhu were scratchy. They played almost like novices committing unforced errors time and again.
India was put on the back foot as the pair of R.V. Gurusaidutt and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 21-19, 21-19 to Danny Chrisnanta and Vanessa Neo in the opening mixed doubles tie.
Kashyap beat Chao Huang 21-15, 22-20 to restore parity but Ashkay Dewalkar and Pranaav Chopra promptly lost to Chrisnanta and Chayut Triyachart 21-12, 21-16.
Sindhu was in all sorts of trouble in the women’s singles against Xiaoyu Liang before winnig 24-22, 21-13. While the win opened the chance for India the pair of G. Jwala and Ashwini lost 21-17, 29-27 to Shinta Mulia Shri and Lei Yao. The Indians were hardly in the picture in the first set but made a rally late into the second.
This article has been corrected for a factual error.