India women exit Badminton Asia Team Championships after quarterfinal loss to China

India’s hopes of defending their title in the Badminton Asia Women’s Team Championships ended after a 0-3 defeat to a second-string Chinese side in the quarterfinals on Friday.

The absence of star shuttler PV Sindhu due to a minor injury left a gap that proved hard to fill. World No. 42 Tanvi, who had been India’s standout performer in the earlier rounds, faltered in the opening singles, going down 9-21, 9-21 to World No. 10 Gao Fang Jie in a one-sided encounter.

The doubles duo of Gayatri Gopichand (world No. 12) and Treesa Jolly (world No. 14) showed great fight against the world No. 4 pairing of Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian , but narrowly lost 22-24, 18-21, giving China a decisive 2-0 lead. In a must-win second singles clash, Rakshitha Ramraj (world No. 35) pushed Xu Wen Jing (world No. 18) to the limit but eventually succumbed 14-21, 21-15, 17-21 in a hard-fought 69-minute battle, sealing India’s quarterfinal exit.

India had started the tournament on a high, dominating Myanmar 5-0 in their opening match, but a tight 2-3 defeat to Thailand in the final group match had hinted at vulnerabilities ahead of the knockout stage.