Thomas & Uber Cup: Sindhu-led Indian women team lose to Thailand in quarters

Double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu fought hard before losing to Ratchanok Intanon as the Indian women's badminton team crashed out of the Uber Cup Finals after being drubbed 0-3 by Thailand in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

World No. 7 Sindhu was off colour for the second consecutive day as she squandered one-game lead to go down 21-18 17-21 12-21 against Intanon, ranked eighth, in a 59-minute first women's singles match.

The defeat means Sindhu now trails Intanon 4-7 on head-to-head record. India were down 0-2 when the women's doubles pair of Shruti Mishra and Simran Singhi lost 16-21 13-21 against the Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai.

It was no better for Aakarshi Kashyap, who surrendered 16-21 11-21 to Pornpawee Chochuwong in the second singles match that lasted 42 minutes. As Thailand took an unassailable 3-0 lead, the remaining two matches of the tie became redundant and were not played.

In the second women's doubles contest, the Indian pair of Tanisha Crasto and Treesa Jolly was to face Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard, while Ashmita Chaliha was scheduled to play Busanan Ongbamrungphan.

Earlier on Wednesday, Sindhu lost in straight games 15-21 14-21 against world number four An Seyoung in India's final Group D match, where it was blanked 0-5 by Korea. But the loss hardly made any difference as India, by then, had already sealed a quarterfinal berth after ensuring a top-two finish in the group after back-to-back victories over Canada and USA.

The Indian men's team will play Malaysia in the quarterfinals of the Thomas Cup Final later in the day.