Badminton
Sudirman Cup: India defeats Australia to finish third in Group C
India defeated Australia in the last group stage match of the Sudirman Cup to finish third in Group C behind Malaysia and Chinese Taipei.
The Indian badminton team defeated Australia in their final group stage tie of the Sudirman Cup 2023 to finish the tournament with a win on Wednesday. India finished third in Group C after losing the first two games against Malaysia and Chinese Taipei.
With the quarterfinal qualification out of question, India went into the game against Australia with a second-choice lineup and handed a Sudirman Cup debut to the young shuttler Anupama Upadhyay.
Sai Pratheek and Tanisha Crasto started the tie for India against Kenneth Choo and Gronya Somerville. The pair started by winning the first game 21-17 but soon withered away.
Playing without her regular partner, Tanisha Crasto has looked off-color and her errors cost the Indian pair multiple points. The Australian pair made a superb comeback in the second and third games to win the first match 17-21, 21-14, and 21-18 giving Australia a 1-0 lead.
Taking the court in men's singles, World number 7 HS Prannoy didn't take much time and he quickly defeated Jack Yu 21-8, 21-8 to equalize the tie 1-1. In a match that lasted 28 minutes, Prannoy looked comfortable and toyed around with Jack to bring India back into the tie.
The women's singles match was between India's debutant Anupama Upadhyay and Australia's Tiffany Ho. Playing in her first Sudirman Cup tie, Anupama displayed brilliant composure and won the first game 21-16 after some nervous moments in the last two points.
In the second game, Tiffany displayed some fight but Anupama kept taking points at regular intervals and closed the match with a brilliant winner to put India in a 2-1 lead after HS Prannoy had already registered a win for India in men's singles.
MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila started shakily in their men's doubles tie against Rayne Wang and Ricky Tang with the Australian pair running into an early lead.
The Indian pair found their rhythm and gave the Australian pair no chance to win the first game 21-10.
The second game was the same as the first one and the Indian pair dominated it to win the match and the tie for India.
With this win, India end their torrid Sudirman Cup campaign and the Indian shuttlers will be back in action next week in Malaysia Masters which is BWF Super 500 tournament.
