Badminton Mixed Asia Championship 2023: India stun Malaysia to finish top.

 The Indian badminton stunned Malaysia in the final Group game to finish top of the Badminton Mixed Asia Team Championship played in Dubai on 16 February.

After blanking both Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates 5-0 in the first two games, the Indian team faced the toughest challenge so far.

The first singles match saw HS Prannoy upset Lee Ji Zia in three grueling games. It was a tough battle for both players before the World number 4 Lee won the first game 21-18. HS Prannoy made a strong comeback with lovely shots keeping pressure on Lee winning it by 21-13 to take the game into the decider.

Both players fought for each point in the third and final game. The match ebbed and flowed before HS Prannoy held onto his nerve to win it 25-23 giving India a 1-0 lead.

PV Sindhu defeated Wong Ling Ching in the women’s singles match. It was an impressive performance by the Indian star as she trailed before showing her domination winning the first game by 21-13. It was another closely fought second game before Sindhu made it 2-17 to give India a 2-0 lead in the tie.

The men’s doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Chirag Shetty lost to Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in straight sets. It was a disappointing performance by the scratch Indian pair as they lost to the experienced Malaysian pair 16-21, 10-21 to give Malaysia their first point.

Tressa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand stunned Pearly Tan and Thinah Muralitharan in women’s doubles. The first game was a closely fought match with both pairs fighting for each point. It went right down the wire before the Indian pair won the first game at 25-23.

Gayatri Gopichand and Tressa Jolly looked impressive in the second game putting enough pressure on the Malaysian pair winning it by 21-15 to give India a 3-1 lead and the match.

Ishan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto took on Chen and Toh in mixed doubles match. The Indian pairing looked impressive with their shots taking a decent lead before Chen and Toh made a strong comeback. Ishan and Tanisha won the first game 21-19.

The second game was a closely fought affair as both pairs fought for each point. Ishan and Tanisha took looked good to seal the match but the Malaysian pair won the second game with scoreline of 21-19 to force the match into the decider.

Despite trailing in the final game initially, the Indian pair showed domination and won it easily by 21-16 to win the tie 4-1. The Indian team will look to go beyond the quarterfinals stage as they did in the inaugural edition.

Quarterfinals line up.

From A, China finished at the top spot with 3 out of 3 wins, South Korea finished 2^nd. The Indian team showed great spirit to finish top of Group B while Malaysia 2^nd.

Indonesia won all 4 matches in Group C while Thailand won 3 out of 4 matches to qualify for the quarterfinals. Japan and Hong Kong progressed into the quarterfinals from Group D.

1.       China versus Malaysia ( 17^th February)- 1^st quarterfinals

2.       India versus Hong Kong (17^th February)- 2^nd quarterfinals

3.       South Korea versus Indonesia (17^th February)- 3^rd quarterfinals

4.       Thailand versus Japan (17^th February)- 4^th quarterfinals

The Indian team beat Malaysia to finish top of Group B Badminton Mixed Asia Team Championships