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India's challenge in the Badminton Asia Team Championships being played at Qingdao, China, came to an end after the men went down 1-3 against Korea, while the women lost 0-3 against favourites China in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Having qualified second in Group C behind Japan, India depended on their singles strength against Korea in the men's quarterfinal in the absence of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Lakshya Sen. And it looked like their strategy paid off when Ayush Shetty earned three match points in the first singles against Yoo Tae Bin in the decider. But the former world junior bronze medalist failed to convert those three and despite saving three match points himself and earning one more, the Indian ultimately suffered a 18-21, 21-14, 26-24 reversal in an hour and 24 minutes, as per a Badminton Association of India (BAI) press release. Korea extended their lead with Song Hyun Cho and Kim Won Ho beating the Indian scratch combination of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Chirag Shetty 21-11, 21-13. Former world number 1 Kidambi Srikanth kept India's hopes alive with a 21-15, 21-16 win over Choi Ji Hoon but Korea wrapped the match in the second doubles with Jin Yong and Ki Dong Ju defeating Pruthvi K Roy and K Sai Pratheek 21-11, 21-16. Earlier, defending champions India could not match the strength of the formidable Chinese women's team in the absence of PV Sindhu. World no. 10 Gao Fang Jie started their march towards the semifinals with a 21-9, 21-9 win over Tanvi Sharma in the first singles. India's top doubles combination of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand earned a game point in the opening game against the world no. 4 pairing of Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian but went down 24-22, 21-18. Rakshita Sree then raised hopes of a fight back when she bagged the opening game against Xu Wen Jing, but could not sustain the momentum and lost 14-21, 21-15, 21-17. Result: Women: India lost to China 0-3 (Tanvi Sharma lost to Gao Fang Jie 9-21, 9-21; Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand lost to Jia Yi Fan/Zhang Shu Xian 22-24, 18-21; Rakshitha Sree lost to Xu Wen Jing 21-14, 15-21, 17-21 Men: India lost to Korea 1-3 (Ayush Shetty lost to Yoo Tae Bin 21-18, 14-21, 24-26; Hariharan Amsakarunan/Chirag Shetty lost to Song Hyun Cho/Kim Won Ho 11-21, 13-21; Kidambi Srikanth bt Choi Ji Hoon 21-15, 21-16; Pruthvi K Roy/K Sai Pratheek lost to Jin Yong/Ki Dong Ju 11-21, 16-21). (ANI)
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