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India put up a fighting display against badminton powerhouse Malaysia but ended up on the wrong side of the 2-3 scoreline as their Badminton Asia Junior Mixed team championships challenge ended at the quarterfinal stage of the tournament.
The players will now participate in the individual championship which will begin from Wednesday. In the quarterfinals on Monday, India made yet another change in the mixed doubles event, with Sanskar Saraswat with Shravani Walekar leading the charge. The duo gave the team the lead with a 21-16, 13-21, 21-17 win over Kang Khai Xing and Noraqilha Maisarah. Senior Nationals runners-up Tanvi Sharma then doubled India's lead when she got the better of Siti Zulaikha 21-15, 15-21, 22-20 in girls singles. India looked on course of an upset win when Pranay Shettigar clinched the opening game against Muhammad Faiq. But he could not keep the momentum in his favour and lost 15-21, 21-18, 21-19 in a game that lasted for an hour and six minutes. Malaysia found the opening and grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Walekar and Navya Kanderi went down 16-21, 15-21 against Bui Ong Xin Yee and Carmen Ting and then Bhargav Ram, Arsh Mohammad lost to Kang and Aaron Tai 18-21, 10-21. Speaking about the team's overall performance, Badminton Association of India secretary Sanjay Mishra said as quoted from a press release by BAI, "I am extremely happy with the way the team fought and came within striking distance of a medal. Some of these youngsters were playing in such a competition for the first time but hardly showed any nerves. I am sure they will come up with a strong showing in the individual events starting two days later." Despite the loss in the quarterfinals, the squad had a lot of positives to take away from the competition as Tanvi Sharma remained unbeaten in all her matches. Overall, India did not lose any girls singles match as Navya Kanderi also remained unbeaten against Indonesia in the group stage. (ANI)
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