Mixed day for shuttlers

Nagoya: Lakshya Sen’s stirring comeback was the perfect subplot as the Indian men’s badminton team produced a superlative performance to outwit Japan in the quarterfinals and assure itself of a medal, but it was curtains for the women’s team following a 1-3 loss to the hosts at the Asian Games here on Tuesday.

It was a flawless performance from the Indian men, silver medallists at the last edition, as they rode on victories from Lakshya, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and Ayush Shetty.

Coming into the event after a series of early exits and low on confidence, Lakshya was staring at defeat after losing the opening game and trailing 14-19 in the decider. However, the 25-year-old from Almora proved his mettle, reeling off seven straight points to beat world No.7 and two-time world championships silver-medallist Kodai Naraoka 11-21, 21-5, 21-19 to give India a 1-0 lead.

Playing the first doubles, Satwik and Chirag, who have won two titles this season, registered a 21-18, 24-22 win over former world champions Hoki Takuro and Kobayashi Yugo to extend India’s lead to 2-0. Ayush, a finalist at the Badminton Asia Championships this year, then produced an impressive performance to see off world no. 16 Koki Watanabe 21-10 21-19 to seal the match and a medal for India. India will face the winner of the other quarterfinal between defending champions China and Korea in the last four stage on Wednesday. The win lifted some of the gloom after the women’s team’s loss earlier in the day. While the World Championships bronze medallists Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand produced a clinical performance, the singles players faltered as the women’s team bowed out of the quadrennial event in the quarters.

Two-time Olympic-medallist PV Sindhu, who started the proceedings, was off to a fighting start but could not sustain the pressure against world No.3 Akane Yamaguchi, losing 23-21, 18-21, 6-21 in the opening singles clash.

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The Hans India