India women assured of historic silver after reaching maiden Badminton Asia Team Championships final

India women’s badminton team defeated Japan with a 3-2 margin in the semi-finals of the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Malaysia on Saturday. This will be the women’s team’s first-ever entry into the final of this tournament, where they will face Thailand on Sunday. 17-year-old Anmol was the star of the day for India, beating Natsuki Nidaira 21-14, 21- in 25 minutes. The pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also registered a victory, beating world No. 6 Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida 21-17, 16-21, 22-20 in 73 minutes.

HISTORY SCRIPTED 🤩🤩

First-ever final for #TeamIndia at #BATC 🥳

Courtesy: 17 year old Anmol Kharb@himantabiswa | @sanjay091968 | @lakhaniarun1 #BATC2024#IndiaontheRise#Badminton pic.twitter.com/2LbQSmzqWO

— BAI Media (@BAI_Media) February 17, 2024

Though Japan were without their world No. 4 Akane Yamaguchi, world No. 7 pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota and world No. 8 combination of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara, they were still a formidable side, making it a tough battle for India. Treesa-Gayatri’s win helped India level the scores 1-1 after PV Sindhu, who had returned from a long injury layoff, could not produce her best as she went down to Aya Ohori 13-21, 20-22. Up against former world champion Nozomi Okuhara, who is currently ranked world No. 20, the left-handed Ashmita produced an aggressive game, using her overhead cross drops and jump smashes to good use, to record a shocking 21-17, 21-14 win to hand India a 2-1 lead. With Tanisha Crasto suffering a niggle, Sindhu then paired up with Ashwini Ponnappa but they couldn’t get across the world No. 11 pair of Rena Miyaura and Ayako Sakuramoto, losing 14-21, 11-21 in 43 minutes. With the five-match rubber evenly poised at 2-2, Anmol was handed the responsibility of taming world No. 29 Natsuki Nidaira and the Indian once again lived up to the expectation, claiming a 21-14, 21-18 win in 52 minutes. The final appearance keeps India’s hopes of winning a first-ever gold in the continental championship. India had won two bronze medals in men’s team event in the 2016 and 2020 editions. With PTI inputs