Badminton Asia Team Championship: India goes down fighting 2-3, settles for bronze
The Indian men’s team provided a gritty display of badminton
against the two-time Champions Indonesia going down fighting 2-3 in the
semi-finals of the Badminton Asia Team Championship played at Manilla on
Saturday.
In the first match of the day, Sai Praneeth lost to Anthony
Gingting 6-21 before retiring hurt at the start for 2nd game to give
Indonesia a 1-0 lead. Praneeth looked out of sorts against Ginting.
Lakshya Sen produced a stunning display to defeat the Asian
Games gold medallists Jonathan Christie in a closely fought match by 21-18,
22-20 to level the scores at 1-1. It was a superb performance by Sen who showed
great resilience and kept the Indonesian player on the backfoot. Sen won the
first set easily at 21-18. Both players fought for each point in the 2nd
game before the Indian cruised past Christie.
In the first men’s doubles Dhruv Kapila and MR Arjun went
down fighting to Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiwan in three gruelling games by
10-21, 21-14, 21-23. It was a superb performance by the unseeded Indian pair
who showed great fight against the more experienced Indonesian pair. Setiwan
and Ahsan went the first set easily at 21-10 before the young Indian pair won
the 2nd set easily at 21-14.
In the third and deciding game, both players fought for each
point before the Indonesian pair held their nerves to win the decider at 23-21
to give Indonesia 2-1 lead.
The fourth game saw Subhankar Dey defeated Sheasar Hiren Rhustavatio
in two straight sets by 21-17, 21-15 to level the tie at 2-2. It was a superb
performance by Dey who played with aggression and kept the pressure on
Indonesian player.
In the decider, the scratch pairing of Lakshya Sen and
Chirag Shetty were outplayed by Marcus Gideon and Sanjaya Sukamuljo in two
straight sets by 6-21, 13-21 to lose the tie 2-3. It was a superb performance
by the Indian team who showed great skills and stretched Indonesia to the limit.
The Indian men’s team won bronze medal which is a big achievement
for this team who showed great fighting spirit against top teams as they
defeated Thailand 3-2 after being 0-2 down.
 |
| India produce a valiant effort against Indonesia 2-3 |
Comments