Excitement soon turned into horror for Indian men’s team at the Badminton Asia Team Championships, as Kidambi Srikanth could not add finishing touches to the match against Japanese Kento Momota, on Friday, as he lost from a position of utmost strength. The former World No. 1 Indian went down 21-17, 9-21, 20-22, against Momota, as the team eventually lost a chance to secure a medal, after losing the quarters tie 2-3.
With the day starting well for the Indians, after the women beat Hong Kong, to progress to the semis for the first time in the history of the championship, the men’s team faltered when it mattered the most. Despite being up 19-13 in the deciding game against Momota, Srikanth committed far too many unforced errors, and handed the tie to the Japanese in an unassuming manner.
Prannoy Disappoints, Dhruv/Arjun Ineffective
It would be unfair to blame Srikanth alone for the loss. India’s best player currently, HS Prannoy too lost his opening match of the tie against WR-12 Kenta Nishimoto. But the way WR-7 Prannoy fought back in the match, had only raised hopes. After losing the first game 16-21, he came back in the second from being 9-19 down, to 20-20. In the end, he lost 24-26. MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost their match against Koga/Shibata 17-21, 15-21.
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It’s not like India didn’t fightback — Lakshya Sen and Satwik/Chirag did win their matches, but the others were way off mark. Having said that, had one more result gone India’s way, they would have pocketed their medal at the event. Now, Indian women will have a chance to avenge the men’s team defeat, as they will face Japan in the semis on Saturday.
