India failed to mount a serious challenge against Thailand in their opening match of the Sudirman Cup 2021 on Sunday as they suffered a 4-1 loss. All matches in the tie ended in straight sets, with the men’s doubles match being the only save – that too when India did not have the top pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Former world number one Kidambi Srikanth was once again disappointed as he lost to world number 25 Kunlavut Vitidsern in men’s singles.
In the second match of Group A, China defeated Finland 5-0. India will face China on Monday and then Finland on Wednesday. A defeat against China and if Thailand beat Finland, it would mean the end of India’s Sudirman Cup campaign.
The tie started with men’s doubles where MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila were up against Supak Jomkoh-Kittinupong Kedren. Both the matches of the match were close but the Indian pair tied 21-18, 21-17 in 36 minutes to give India the lead.
However, none of the others made the move against Thailand and the hopeful performances of Arjun and Dhruv ultimately didn’t matter in the tie.
The second match of the tie was the women’s singles match between Pornpawi Chochuwong and Malvika Bansod. It was always going to be an uphill task for Bansod and the match was definitely a mismatch. Bansod and Chochuwong played long rallies and the Indian tried hard but lost 11-21, 14-21 in 50 minutes.
The tie had Srikanth in third place against world number 13 Vitidsern, who is not Thailand’s highest-ranked men’s singles player. Srikanth was very weak in the first game as he suffered a 9-21 loss. They fought toe-to-toe in the second game but Vitidsern won it 21–9, registering the win in 43 minutes.
Ashwini Ponnappa-N Sikki Reddy failed to punch above her weight and lost 21-23, 8-21 to the Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Ravinda Prajongjai in 45 minutes.
The mixed doubles pair of Sai Praneeth and Tanisha Crasto were no match against Dechapol Puvaranukroh-Sapsiri Terattanachai as they went down 13-21, 11-21 in just 33 minutes.
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