The round 32 of the prestigious Badminton Asia Championship 2024 saw a horrendous effort from the Indian contingent. In as many as 15 matches that involved Indian shuttlers, only three results came in favour, with India’s top seed in Men’s Singles HS Prannoy, PV Sindhu and Ashwini-Tanisha make to the next round.
There were high hopes on the Indian unit to give their best at the event. However, the negative results have sent badminton fans in shock. In the absence of the World No.1 Satwik-Chirag duo, the top seeds HS Prannoy, and Lakshaya Sen were in frontrunners to lead the charge for the Indian setup. But only Prannoy could make an impact.
All results of the Indian contingent in round 32 of the Badminton Asia Championship
Men’s Singles
HS Prannoy defeated China’s Lu Guang Zu 17-21, 23-21, 23-21 in a fierce battle. However, Prannoy held on to his nerve to clinch the game after being down in first set.
Lakshya Sen loses to WR 2 Shi Yuqi 19-21, 15-21 in a closely contested encounter. This was Sen’s 3rd appearance at the Badminton Asia Championships and he lost in the opening round in all the 3 editions.
Priyanshu Rajawat lost to former All England Champion Lee Zii Jia 9-21, 13-21, while Kidambi Srikanth lost to WR 3 Anthony Ginting 14-21, 13-21. It was 5th 1st round loss for Srikanth in 9 tournaments this year.
Women’s Singles
Aakarshi Kashyap faced a thrashing defeat against WR 20 Busanan Ongbamrungphan 10-21, 11-21 and Malvika Bansod lost to WR 38 Sim Yu Jin 18-21, 19-21 after giving a tough fight for the opponent.
PV Sindhu had to struggle for 18-21, 21-14, 21-19 win over WR 33 Goh Jin Wei. This was the only respite for India at Badminton Asia Championship so far.
Sindhu survives a scare!
P.V Sindhu had to fight hard for 18-21, 21-14, 21-19 win over WR 33 Goh Jin Wei in opening round of Badminton Asia Championships. #BAC2024 pic.twitter.com/gKJllRCJjA
— India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) April 10, 2024
Other Results
In Men’s doubles, Sai-Krishna, Arjun-Dhruv, and Hariharan-Ruban all three duos faced defeats.
Tanisha-Ashwini in Women’s doubles qualified to round 16 as the opponent Indonesian duo retired from the match. However, Treesa-Gayatri, the Panda sisters, and Simran-Ritika were humbled by their opponents.
The sole duo of Aadya-Sathish in Mixed Doubles were also left clueless as they gave away an easy win.
Now all the hopes of hopes lies on the Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy to take India’s pride forward in the tournament. The onus also lies on the Ashwini-Tanisha duo who are fighting for an Olympic quota, to succeed well in the remainder of the event.
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