PTI
Hyderabad
India men's dream run in the ongoing Badminton Asia Team Championships came to an end after a 1-3 semi-final loss to Indonesia, in Hyderbabad on Saturday.
Japan trounced South Korea 3-0 in the other semi-final to set up title clash with Indonesia.
The Indian team had a dream start in the semi-finals on Saturday with captain Kidambi Srikanth achieving a superb 21-14, 23-25, 21-9 victory over Tommy Sugiarto in the opening singles encounter. But the hosts soon suffered a setback with its doubles pair of Manu Attri-Sumeeth Reddy losing to Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan 11-21, 10-21 in the first doubles match.
The team's chances to play in the final of the tournament were dented further with world No 25 Ajay Jayaram going down fighting 15-21, 20-22 against a lower-ranked Ginting Anthony. In the second doubles match, Pranaav Jerry Chopra-Akshay Dewalkar put up a strong fight but that was not enough to tame their Indonesian rivals Angga Pratama-Ricky Karanda Suwardi. The Indian pair lost 13-21, 21-18, 15-21. With Indonesia having won three matches among five, the final match (singles) between India's HS Prannoy and Indonesia's Christie Jonatan was abandoned.
"It was a closely-fought match between Ajay and Anthony," chief coach Pullela Gopichand told reporters. "Ginting (Anthony) played very well in the second singles.
"Also, Akshay (Dewalkar) and Jerry (Pranaav Jerry Chopra) fought hard and lost close matches. We had our chances but I am proud of the way the entire team performed. Particularly, the way the whole week went off. The kind of spirit that was there, was good and it's very positive for Indian badminton."
The Indian team has won a bronze medal for having played in the semi-finals. Significantly, it is the first-ever bronze medal for the Indian men's team in last three decades. Meanwhile, Japan beat Thailand 3-0 and China trounced South Korea 3-0 in the women's semi-final encounters. The Indian women's team had lost in the quarterfinals on Friday.
