In Badminton, India ended their Sudirman Cup campaign with a 3-2 win over England in their final Group D match in Xiamen, China yesterday. Despite the victory, India failed to reach the quarterfinals after earlier 1-4 losses to Denmark and Indonesia.
With qualification hopes already over, India played freely. World No. 44 Anupama Upadhyaya comfortably beat England’s Miu Lin Ngan 21-12, 21-16 in women’s singles. Satish Kumar Karunakaran then edged past Harry Huang in a tough men’s singles match, winning 18-21, 22-20, 21-13.
Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra sealed the tie for India with a 21-17, 21-17 win in women’s doubles against Lizzie Tolman and Estelle Van Leeuwen.
India lost the remaining two matches. In men’s doubles, Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi lost to Rory Easton and Alex Green 14-21, 21-11, 13-21.
In the mixed doubles, Karunakaran and Crasto went down 21-11, 13-21, 22-24 to Callum Hemming and Van Leeuwen.
Denmark and Indonesia advanced to the quarterfinals from Group D, as only the top two teams from each of the four groups will make the knockout cut.
