India’s campaign suffered a major setback in the Asia Badminton Championship. India’s Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Akarshi Kashyap, and Priyanshu Rajawat‘s singles challenge ended. In men’s doubles, defending champion Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty pulled out of the tournament, with all eyes on the performance of the Indian players in singles. But, the Indian players had to bear the shock of defeat.In singles, Akarshi Kashyap had to accept a 10-21, 11-21 defeat against Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrumangphan. Malvika Bansod had to accept the defeat of Korea’s Sim Yoo Jin 18-21, 19-21 in a tight match.In men’s singles, Priyanshu Rajawat was defeated by Lee Zee Jia of Malaysia 9-21, 13-21. Lakshya Sen’s challenge was ended by China’s Shi Yu Qi 19-21, 15-21. India’s Kidambi Srikanth lost to Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting 14-21, 13-21. The decline of Indian badminton players also continued in doubles. M. R. Arjun, Dhruv Kapila had to lose to the pair of China Liu Yu Chen and O Xuan Yi in a close fight with 21-23, 21-19, 24-26. In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand were defeated by China’s Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning 2-21, 11-21. The pair of Rituparna Panda and Shweta Prana Panda had to lose to the pair of Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu of China by 8-21, 13-21.
