India’s campaign came to a disappointing end as the PV Sindhu-led squad lost the women’s team badminton quarter-final 1-3 to hosts Japan at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium on Tuesday.
The Indian women shuttlers were looking to earn their first medal at the Asian Games since their bronze in 2014 but it wasn’t to be as the hosts, backed by a vociferous crowd, comprehensively overcame India.
Hopes were high for Sindhu as she took on three-time world champion and old rival Akane Yamaguchi, who also reached the final of the World Championships last month here. Having beaten the world No. 3 twice in four meetings this year—including the Japan Open final where Sindhu beat Yamaguchi in her own backyard—Sindhu looked full of confidence and started well, pulling off the first game, a tight affair, 23-21.
But Yamaguchi found her rhythm in the second as she kept drawing Sindhu to the net before pushing the bird to the back. The local girl played the endurance game perfectly, extending the rallies which forced Sindhu to commit errors to win the second game 21-18 and push the match into a decider.
The two-time Olympic medallist ran out of steam in the third, losing the decider 11-21 as Japan went up 1-0.
Japan made it 2-0 when 20-year-old Tomoka Miyazaki breezed past Unnati Hooda 21-16, 21-18. Unlike what the scores suggest, Tomoka was in complete control of the match as she earned her fifth win in as many meetings against the Indian.
However, it was the pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand who rekindled hope in the Indian dugout. Full of confidence after winning a bronze medal at the World Championships here last month, the Indian pairing overcame world No.3 Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto.
While Yuki is a three-time World Championships silver medallist (with Sayaka Hirota), Mayu is a two-time world champion (with Wakana Nagahara). She has also won two bronze medals with Wakana.
Having paired up this year, they have already reached three finals despite winning bronze at the Asian Championships.
But despite their pedigree, the Japanese combine were no match for Treesa and Gayatri as the world No.26 pair won 21-17, 21-16 in 52 minutes to provide hope to their team.
But that hope was short lived as young Tanvi Sharma was no match for former world champion Nozomi Okuhara, who came out on top 21-12, 21-10 in 18 minutes to help Japan win 3-1.
Japan will meet the winner of the contest between South Korea and Malaysia in the semi-finals.
India’s medal-less run continues in the category. They have medalled only twice at the Asian Games, winning bronze at New Delhi 1982 and Incheon 2014.