Asian Games
Asian Games Badminton: Indian women's team knocked out, loses to Thailand
Indian women's badminton team lost to Thailand 0-3 in the quarterfinals to end its campaign in the Asian Games 2023.
The Indian women's badminton team
Indian women's badminton team lost in the quarterfinals against Thailand to crash out of the Asian Games 2023 on Friday.
Led by PV Sindhu, the Indian team failed to put up any fight and went down in three straight matches against the Thailand women's team. As the Thai team was playing without its star shuttler Ratchanok Intanon, world no. 12 Pornpawee Chochuwong led the side from the front along with Busanan Ongbamrungphan.
PV Sindhu was the only one who managed to take a game off as she won her first game 21-14 against Chochuwong before losing to her in three games.
Sindhu made a strong start as she led 4-1 before managing a lead of 11-7 at the mid-game break. She kept the pressure on the Thai shuttler and raced to a lead of 17-10.
Sindhu won the first game without much fuss with a score of 21-14.
Chochuwong, however, made a roaring comeback in the second game. The Thai eked out a narrow 7-6 lead after an initial battle and then started dominating the rallies after the interval, gaining a 12-9 and then 18-14 lead to eventually bounce back.
In the decider, Sindhu had an early 4-3 lead but Chochuwong soon turned the tables, leading 8-6. The Thai shuttler extended her advantage to 13-8, before moving to 18-11, a gap which proved too much in the end for the Indian.
Sindhu conceded a 1-0 lead to Thailand by losing her match 21-14,15-21,14-21.
In the doubles match, world number 17 Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were up against world number 10 pair Rawind Prajongjai and Jongkolphan Kittitharakul.
The Indian pair fought well in the first game but surrendered meekly in the second game to lose 19-21, 5-21.
In the third match which was a singles fixture between Ashimita Chaliha and Busanan Ongbamrungphan, the Indian shuttler lost 9-21,16-21 to let Thailand advance to the semifinals with a 3-0 clean sweep.
Later in the day, the Indian men's team will take on Nepal in the quarterfinals and will look to seal India's first badminton medal at the ongoing Asian Games.
