Bangkok: India’s young but depleted men and women’s teams jeopardised their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage after suffering an identical 1-4 loss to France and Canada in the opening Group A match of the Thomas and Uber Cup Final here Sunday.
World No.18 B Sai Praneeth gave India a positive start, defeating Brice Leverdez 21-7, 21-18 to take a 1-0 lead, but none of the other players could step up when it mattered.
In the second match, World No.38 Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok lost 13-1, 16-21 to Bastian Kersaudy and Julien Maio. Sameer Verma went down 18-21, 22-20, 18-21 to World No.43 Lucas Corvee in the second singles as France grabbed a 2-1 lead.
World No.70 Arun George and Sanyam Shukla were no match for Thom Gicquel and Ronan Labar, losing 10-21, 12-21 in a 28-minute match. Young Lakshya Sen fought hard before losing 20-22, 21-19, 19-21 to Toma Junior Popov in the third singles. India will face Australia Monday.
In the Uber Cup CWG gold medallist Saina went down 21-15, 16-21, 16-21 to Michelle Li in the first match, to hand over a 1-0 lead to Canada. Young Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka then lost 11-21. 13-21 to Rachel Honderich as Canada grabbed a 2-0 advantage.
The doubles pair of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram gave India a glimmer of hope as they beat Michelle Tong and Josephine Wu 21-19, 21-15, but Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli failed to get it across Brittney Tam, losing 11-21, 15-21, as Canada took an unassailable 3-1 lead.
In the fifth and final match, Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant lost 15-21, 16-21 to Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai to end their miserable outing. The women’s team will also play Australia next.