Asian Mixed Team C'ships: India lose 2-3 to South Korea in final group tie

The Indian mixed badminton team were handed a 2-3 defeat by South Korea in the final group tie of the Badminton Asian Mixed Team Championships in Qingdao, Shandong, China on Thursday.

India lost the first two matches but staged a comeback to level the score at 2-2. However, Satwik-Arjun failed to win the final match of the tie, resulting in a 2-3 loss for India.

Despite this loss, the Indian team advanced to the knockout stage as the second-best team in Group D.

Treesa-Gayatri help level the tie

The tie started with the mixed doubles match between the Indian pairing of Dhruv Kapila/ Tanisha Crasto and the Korean pairing of Dong Ju Kl/ Na Eun Jeong.

Despite losing the first game, Dong-Jeong put Korea on the board by winning the match in a tight three-game (11-21, 21-12, 21-15) affair.

Sim Yu Jin followed them and claimed a second consecutive victory for Korea, handing them a 2-0 lead.

She outclassed the young Indian women's singles player Malvika Bansod in straight games, 21-9, 21-10.

Thereafter, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran stopped Korea's winning run, clinching the third match of the tie against Geonyeop Cho.

Indian leveled the score after the fourth match with Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand getting better of the Korean pairing of Kim Min Ji and Kim Yu Jung in three games, 19-21, 21-16, and 21-11.

The fate of the tie was to be decided in the final match i.e. the men's doubles match.

The Indian team, however, sent a scratch pair of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and MR Arjun in the final match of the tie.

This decision backfired as the Korean pairing of Jin Yong and Na Sung Seung claimed a victory by winning the men's doubles match in straight games, 21-14, 25-23.