Ashwini, Jwala lose in Uber Cup; Men keep India's hopes alive in Thomas Cup

New Delhi: Ajay Jayaram shepherded the Indian men’s team to a 5-0 whitewash of hosts Macau in Thomas Cup but their female counterparts failed to make a wining start to their campaign as they lost 2-3 to Malaysia in the Uber Cup (Asia Zone) tournament today. In Thomas Cup, World number 27 Jayaram started the proceeding for India as he crushed Chi Man Lam 21-9 21-11 in just 24 minutes in the first singles. Sanave Thomas and V Diju then beat Ion Weng Lo and Io Keng Iao 21-6 21-2 in just 17 minutes to make it 2-0 in India’s favour. Commonwealth Games bronze medallist P Kashyap then saw off Chi Chong Ng 21-10 21-7 in another lop-sided second singles match that lasted for 20 minutes. [caption id=“attachment_213439” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa found the going tough and lost to Eei Hui Chin and Pei Tty Wong 12-21 16-21 in a 34-minute women’s doubles match. AFP”]  [/caption] Akshay Dewalkar and Pranav Chopra then taught Kin Fai Leong and Chi Man Lam a lesson or two in badminton and took India to 4-0 with a 21-11 21-13 routing. Playing the third and last singles, Sai Praneeth B showed no mercy as he thrashed Hok Man Lou 21-5 21-8 to complete the whitewash. However, in the Uber Cup, the women shuttlers failed to get past the Malaysian, despite Saina Nehwal and rising shuttler P V Sindhu winning their respective singles. Playing the first singles, world number four Saina took a little over half an hour to send packing Jing Yi Tee 21-17 21-16 to help India draw first blood. But Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa found the going tough and lost to Eei Hui Chin and Pei Tty Wong 12-21 16-21 in a 34-minute women’s doubles match. With scores levelled 1-1, National champion P V Sindhu took the court and the strapping Indian bounced back from a game down to beat Lydia Li Ya Cheah 16-21 21-13 21-9 in a 41-minute match to give India a 2-1 lead. However, Malaysia once again drew parity with their women’s doubles pair of Liu Ying Goh and Vivian Kah Mun Hoo registering a 21-17 21-17 win over Prajakta Sawant and Pradnya Gadre. Locked 2-2, a lot was expected of Sayali Gokhale but the world number 126 couldn’t get past Li Lian Yang and lost 21-11 15-21 20-22 in a 56-minute battle. India now faces the mighty Chinese tomorrow in Group W. PTI