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HS Prannoy defeated world no. 16 Weng Hong Yang 6-21 21-18 21-19.© X (Twitter)
The Indian men’s team felt the absence of star doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as it suffered a narrow 2-3 loss to China in the Badminton Asia Team Championships group tie in Malaysia on Thursday. Star shuttlers HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen won their singles matches but China fought back with wins in the two doubles contests to make it 2-2. National champion Chirag Sen lost 15-21 16-21 to Wang Zheng Xing in the fifth match as India conceded the tie.
Already through to the knock-out stage, India finished second in the group, with China taking the top spot.
It’s learnt that Satwik and Chirag were rested by the team management as India had already made it to the quarterfinals after the 1-4 win over Hong Kong on Wednesday.
World No. 7 Prannoy started the proceedings with a gritty 6-21 21-18 21-19 win over world no. 16 Weng Hong Yang to put India 1-0 ahead.
In the first doubles, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila squandered one-game advantage to lose 15-21 21-19 19-21 to Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yiin.
Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen then thrashed Lei Lan Xi 21-11 21-16 in 40 minutes to again bring India back into the lead but Suraj Goala and Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy lost 13-21 9-21 to Ren Xiang Yu and Xie Hao Nan in second doubles as the scoreline read 2-2.
In the deciding match, Chirag couldn’t get India the win.
With both the teams already assured of a knockout berth, the focus will now shift on the quarterfinals.
The Indian women’s team had stunned China 3-2 in their league match to top its group on Tuesday.
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