A lot of people had their doubts about this Indian contingent and their credentials ahead of the Sudirman Cup. With plenty of stars missing, India’s chances were pretty bleak right from the start. Therefore they were knocked out of the tournament after losing 5-0 to a very powerful Chinese lineup.
The Indian shuttlers had a tough outing in this tournament as they lost their Group A outing against Thailand. Then they lost to China which led to their dismissal from the tournament. Losing two matches means they are well out of contention for the quarterfinals of the Sudirman Cup. At this point, the match against Finland has turned into a dead rubber as it does not matter.
In the absence of Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist PV Sindhu and London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, the Indian bench strength was badly exposed. Indian Men’s pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also were missing from this tournament. Hence the Indians were short-handed against 11-time Champions China and the match ended with a very obvious result as they failed to even win a single game.
Men’s doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapil fought valiantly against China’s Liu Cheng and Zhou Hao Dong before going down 20-22 17-21. Meanwhile, Aditi Bhatt was blown away as she went up against Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei losing 21-9, 21-8.
Then Shi Yuqi defeated India’s best hope, Sai Praneeth in Men’s Singles. Praneeth who holds the current rank of 15 was completely dominated by Shi Yuqi as he lost 10-21 10-21 as Shi Yuqi sealed the match for China. Sai Praneeth tried all his tricks but he was just not good enough against Shi Yuqi’s athleticism and solid defending.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist duo of Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy also came out second best in the Women’s doubles losing 16-21 13-21 to Chinese world number 15 Zheng Yu and Li Wen Mei. Lastly, in Mixed doubles, the Indian pairing of Kidambi Srikanth and Rituparna Panda were again dominated as they lost 9-21, 9-21 against the Chinese pairing of Du Yue and Feng Yan Zhe.
All in all, India had no chance against China especially with the absence of their star players. The gulf in class was visible which reflects on the scoreline
