Team India suffered a crushing defeat to Japan in the women’s badminton quarterfinals. India were hopeful of a medal in the category, and the defeat will hurt.
India had their chances, but the host players were a level above. India started brilliantly. Sindhu levelled at 5-5 after his opponent took an early lead; however, Yamaguchi took an 11-9 lead heading into the break. The Indian managed to narrow the gap further to 17-18 and then levelled the score at 18-18. She eventually managed a hard-fought 23-21 win in the first game. The Japanese then came back roaring and won the next two games to win 23-21, 18-21, 11-21.
For Unnati Hooda, the challenge was stiffer against Tomoka Miyazaki. After losing the first set 16-21, she started the second set in fine fashion and took a 11-4 lead, but Tomoka fought back well to make the score 13-15 in her favour. She continued the momentum and took the second game 18-21 to give Japan a 2-0 lead.
The third match was a must-win for India, and it brought out the best out of the experienced women’s doubles pairing of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand took on Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto. The first game was a close game and at 17-17, could have gone either way. But the Indian pair was better in tense moments and won the next four points to win 21-17. In the second game, they continued the momentum and won 21-16, helping India pull one back and make the score 2-1. Tanvi Sharma also faced a must-win situation against Nozomi Okuhara, but failed to match the level of the Japanese and lost 12-21 and 10-21.
India will now hope that the men’s team can beat Korea and continue the hunt for the first badminton medal at this year’s event.