Defending champion India to take on Thailand in the Thomas Cup Opener
India have sent an 18-member contingent - 10 men and eight women - for the Thomas and Uber Cup Finals which will be held between April 27 and May 5.
PV Sindhu’s Swiss Open badminton campaign lasted barely a round as she crashed out of the tournament losing to world No. 27 Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan in the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals in Basel, Switzerland.
Sindhu lost 21-16, 19-21, 16-21 to Miyazaki in an encounter that lasted one hour and 19 minutes.
Despite winning the first game, the Indian badminton player failed to clinch the match
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The world No. 11 Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, had also suffered a second-round exit at the All England Open last week.
Meanwhile Priyanshu Rajawat advanced to the quarter-finals in the men’s singles event after beating world No. 33 Lei Lanxi of China in straight games 21-14, 21-13.
The 22-year-old Rajawat had earlier pulled off an upset against World No. 14 Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong China in the first round. Lee was a finalist at the India Open at the beginning of the year.
In the women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand moved to the last eight.
The Indian duo defeated compatriots Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra 21-10, 21-12. They will now take on Australian pair Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu.
Tanisha Castro and Ashwini Ponnappa, however, exited after suffering a 21-17, 21-16 defeat to Japanese shuttlers Rui Hirokami and Yuna Kato.
India’s mixed doubles campaign in Switzerland ended with B Sumeeth Reddy/N Sikki Reddy losing 21-11, 21-14 to the Dutch team of Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek while Sathish Kumar Karunakaran-Aadya Variyath conceded their match against Malaysian third seeds Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei 21-17, 21-14.
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