Japan End India Women’s Asian Games Badminton Campaign With 3-1 Quarterfinal Win

India’s women’s badminton team bowed out of the Asian Games without a medal after losing 1-3 to Japan in the quarterfinals in Nagoya on Tuesday, despite a strong fightback from the doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand.

Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu gave India a promising start against world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi, but the Japanese star recovered from losing the opening game to win 21-23, 21-18, 21-6. Sindhu fought back from 13-17 down in the first game to take it 23-21, but could not maintain the intensity as the match progressed.

The setback was compounded in the second singles, where Unnati Hooda was beaten 16-21, 18-21 by 2022 world junior champion and world No. 7 Tomoka Miyazaki. Japan therefore moved within one win of sealing the quarterfinal tie.

India’s Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, fresh from winning a maiden World Championships bronze in New Delhi, then produced the team’s standout performance. The Indian pair defeated Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto 21-17, 21-16 to keep India’s hopes alive and reduce the deficit to 1-2.

The pressure, however, returned to the singles court. Tanvi Sharma struggled against former world champion Nozomi Okuhara, losing 12-21, 10-21 as Japan completed a 3-1 victory and booked its place in the semifinals.

For Sindhu, the opening defeat was particularly hard-fought. The Indian had recovered from a 13-17 deficit in the first game and produced several long rallies against Yamaguchi before clinching it 23-21. Yamaguchi responded by taking the second game 21-18 and then raced to a 14-6 lead in the decider before closing out the contest.

India had entered the knockout stage after beating Kazakhstan 3-0, but Japan’s depth in the singles proved decisive. The defeat ends India’s campaign in the women’s team event, with the country unable to add to its previous Asian Games team-event medal.