On Monday in Suzhou, the PV Sindhu-led Indian team was defeated by Malaysia 5-0 in the ‘Group of Death,’ which led to them getting disqualified from the Sudirman Cup after failing to meet expectations.
After their loss to Chinese Taipei 1-4 in the Group C opening match on Sunday, India needed to win the tie. But they couldn’t win even one fight, eliminating them just a year after their biggest triumph in Bangkok last year, when India won the Thomas Cup.
The scratch pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Dhruv Kapila was aware that playing against the world No.8 mixed doubles pair of Goh Soon Huat and Lai Shevon Jemie was going to be challenging, as the Indians fell 16-21, 17-21 in 35 minutes.
In the men’s singles tie, Kidambi Srikanth replaced HS Prannoy as he had defeated former All England champion Lee Zii Jia last year. But the former world No.1 was outclassed by the former Asian champion, as Srikanth also lost 16-21, 11-21 in 36 minutes at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre.
All hopes were on Sindhu as she had won all previous four women’s singles match against Goh Jin Wei. However, the tenacious world No.30 produced the best performance of her career, defeating the two-time Olympic medallist 14-21, 21-10, 22-20 in 53 minutes, helping Malaysia clinch the tie and eliminating India from the tournament.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who were recently crowned the first Indian doubles Asian champions, lost a close battle against reigning world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, one of two top pairs the Indians have never beaten. The Malaysians won 21-18, 21-19, securing their eighth consecutive victory over the reigning Commonwealth Games champions.
Treesa Jolly and P Gayatri Gopichand lost the fifth inconsequential rubber 15-21, 13-21 to Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.
India will play their final group match against Australia on Wednesday, which is a meaningless encounter.