India put up a fighting display against powerhouse Malaysia but unfortunately went down 2-3 in a tightly fought quarter-finals at the 2024 Badminton Asia Junior Mixed Team Championships on Monday.
The players will now participate in the individual championship, which will begin from Wednesday.
In the quarter-finals, India made yet another change to their mixed doubles pairing, combining Sanskar Saraswat with Shravani Walekar.
The duo gave the team the lead with a 21-16, 13-21, 21-17 win over Kang Khai Xing and Noraqilha Maisarah.
Tanvi Sharma then doubled India’s lead with a 21-15, 15-21, 22-20 win over Siti Zulaikha in the girls’ singles contest.
India looked on course of an upset win when Pranay Shettigar clinched the opening game against Muhammad Faiq in boys’ singles, but the shuttler could not sustain the momentum and lost out 21-15, 18-21, 19-21 in a match which lasted an hour and six minutes.
Walekar and Navya Kanderi then went down 16-21, 15-21 against Bui Ong Xin Yee and Carmen Ting in the girls’ doubles match as Malaysia equalised the tie score.
With a spot in the semi-finals at stake, the Indian boys’ doubles combination of Bhargav Ram Arigela Arsh Mohammad faltered to lose 18-21, 10-21 against Kang and Aaron Tai.
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