Asia Mixed Team C'ships: India finishes with bronze, loses to China in semis

The Indian badminton team finished their 2023 Asia Mixed team championships with a bronze medal and also earning a slot at theSudirman Cup after going down to China 2-3 in the semi-finals.

Coming on the back of a thrilling win against Hong Kong in the quarter-finals, India started the match in a similar fashion.

World number 9 HS Prannoy was stunned by World number 116 Lei Lan Xi as he defeated the Indian shuttler in straight games.

Prannoy, who defeated Lee Zii Jia in his last game, looked completely off-color and conceded the game easily to the youngster 21-13,21-15.

With Prannoy losing the game, hopes were pinned on PV Sindhu against Gao Fang Jie. Sindhu was shocked in the first game by Gao as she dominated the game to win 21-9.

Sindhu came back strongly in the second game to win it 21-16. However, the youngster from China showed immense resilience in the final game to come back and win the match 21-18 giving China a lead of 2-0.

The makeshift pair of Chirag Shetty and Dhruv Kapila was entrusted to keep India alive and they delivered in style.

The duo was relentless and gave the Chinese pair no chance as they defeated them in straight sets 21-19,21-19. Chirag, in particular, was a man possessed and orchestrated the whole game with his power smashes.

With India still trailing 1-2, the 19-year-old duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand faced another young pair of Liu Sheng Su and Tan Ning. In a game that went on for more than an hour, Treesa/Gayatri pulled off an incredible win.

They defeated Liu/Tan 21-16, 13-21, 21-19 in a game that was full of ups and downs and equalized the match at 2-2.

Ishaan Bhatnagar/Tanisha Crasto faced Jiang Zhen and Wei Ya in the deciding fixture. Although it was too much to ask from the Indian pair against a superior opponent. They went down 21-17, 21-13.

This loss means that India wins their first-ever medal in the continental championships and qualify for the Sudirman Cup.