India began their 2019 Sudirman Cup campaign on a sour note after a fresh-faced Malaysia lodged a brilliant comeback to put a dent on India’s hopes of reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament. India next faces China on Tuesday and, anything less than a victory will knock them out.
In the opening mixed doubles match, the duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa scraped to victory with a scoreline of 16-21, 21-17, 24-22. But, Sameer Verma proved to be of no match to Malaysia’s Lee Zii Jia as the latter took the contest 21-13, 21-15.
In the women’s singles, PV Sindhu made light work of her opponent and picked up the victory in straight sets. In the tightly contested men’s doubles game, Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy lost marginally despite saving four match points. The final scoreline read 22-20, 21-19 in the Malaysian pair’s favor.
In the last game of India vs Malaysia encounter, which happened to be a women’s doubles one, Ashwinni Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy gave in to the heroic display of Chow Mei Kuan and Lee Meng Yean, who triumphed 21-11, 21-19.
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