Dismal show ends India’s Sudirman Cup campaign

It was a 5-0 rout at the hands of Malaysia as India were knocked out of the Sudirman Cup on Monday – the loss coming after a 1-4 downing Taiwan in the group stage on Sunday. All the big names copped losses and there was little to salvage from the dismal performance as India’s hopes ended within the two days, with the final inconsequential Australia tie hopefully used to test the new names.
On Monday, the results were asmal. Dhruv Kapila had stepped in for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in men’s doubles at the Mixed Asian Team event, but he was not very effective in the mixed doubles at the Sudirman Cup though Ashwini Ponappa and him tried what they could during the 21-16, 21-17 loss to the right-left combine of Goh Soon Huat/Lai SJ. In what were short rallies to begin with, the Indian duo lacked the sharpness of a regular pairing as they fell behind in both sets and didn’t recover from the leads.
When the defending got better like at 16-19 in the second during a long rally, the last shot still sailed wide, and the Malaysian combination was too much for the scratch Indian pair.
Kidambi Srikanth took to the court against Lee Zii Jia, who was in sublime touch on the day. As early as 8-10 in the opener, after Lee won 6 of those last 8 points, it became clear that Srikanth would be in trouble when the Malaysian brought out his snappy shortest backswing smash scythe, and next point found the corner lines successfully. Lee pulled away at 12-17 and never looked back.
Srikanth chiefly suffered because all of his own strokes and attack simply couldn’t dent Lee’s solid long-span defense. Frustrated each smashed shuttle coming right back at him, his errors when going for the lines compounded. Some, he over-hit into the net, others he sprayed wide. With Srikanth, once the errors come, they gush out, and he struggled to stem the tide.
At 9-20 in the second, he found himself an open court and still smashed wide. He had tried everything – to hasten the pace, Lee was up for it; forecourt deceptions, Lee picked them all. His misery ended in a 21-16, 21-11 loss.
Perhaps the most bizarre loss of her career, but PV Sindhu might struggle to comprehend how she went from taking the opening set 21-14 in 15 minutes against Goh Jin Wei and then proceeded to play a howler of a second set riddled with so many makes, even the opponent looked surprised.  But nothing can beat the totally wild rollercoaster that was the decider. Sindhu fell 3-13 behind, continuing with the error strewn game of slashing at shuttles with seemingly no direction to the hitting. All this while Goh was playing a simple but exceptionally consent game of slow drops to collect points beyond Sindhu’s makes. The Malaysian was also tiring visibly even as Sindhu went from 2-11 down to come within a point of her at 14-15.
Yet the errors kept pace with the winners, and Goh would reach 16-19 with an almighty cross smash. Sindhu levelled at 20-20, but the day belonged to Goh Jin Wei who reversed a 0-3 career head to head count with the 14-21, 21-10, 22-20 win.
0-3 down in the tie, and India were out of the Sudirman Cup.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty couldn’t reverse their 0-7 h-2-h against world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik, with forecourt pace once again troubling them in fast exchanges. It’s a game style they find awkward, and that continued in the 21-18, 21-19 defeat to the Malaysians.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela too flatlined on the day, unable to pull out the game that could stop spirited Malaysian pairing of Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan. It was a tepid show from the young Indians as they lost 21-15, 21-13.