Asia Mixed Team Championship: India advance to quarter-final despite losing to Korea; will face Thailand

Vietnam: India suffered a 1-4 drubbing at the hands of Korea in their second and final round-robin league tie but still advanced to the quarterfinals from Group D at the ROBOT Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships on Thursday.

Despite the defeat, India advanced to quarterfinals, having beaten Singapore 4-1 in their opening tie on Wednesday.

Against the Koreans today, the Indians could win only one match out of the five with H S Prannoy beating Wan Ho Son 24-22 21-9.

India began on the backfoot with Ashwini Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy losing the mixed doubles match 17-21 21-17 17-21 to Yoo Jung Chae and Solgyu Choi. Prannoy brought the tie on level terms in the second match but the Indians lost all the next three.

Satwiksairaj Ranki Reddy and Chirag Shetty lost to Gi Jung Kim and Yeon Seong Yoo 15-21 26-28 in the men’s doubles while Tanvi Lad was also no match to Ji Hyun Sung in her 8-21 15-21 defeat in the women’s singles.

In the last match, Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy were beaten 13-21 19-21 by Ye Na Chang and So Hee Lee in women’s doubles.