India go down to Japan but make Asia Team Championship quarterfinals

PV Sindhu of India notched up a win against Japan's Akane Yamaguchi

Alor Setar (Malaysia), February 8: Indian women shuttlers advanced to the Badminton Asia Team Championship quarterfinals despite a 1-4 loss to Japan in which PV Sindhu notched the country's only win here on Thursday (February 8).

Even though we couldnt make it against japan ...put in our full efforts n tried our best💪🏻....n now its time to get some rest n get prepared for tomorrow 😬#girlpower#lunchtime#teamlunch#discussingsomestratergies😜#fun#teamevents#batc#alorsetar#quaterfinalstomorrow#bepositive#teamindia

A post shared by sindhu pv (@pvsindhu1) on Feb 8, 2018 at 1:06am PST

Sindhu extended her domination over World No 2 Akane Yamaguchi with a straight games win. Despite the loss, India qualified for the quarter-final in both the women's and men's competition.

The Indian women finished second in Group W with one win and one loss ahead of Hong Kong China but behind Japan. The Sindhu-led squad had defeated Hong Kong China 3-2 in its opening group tie.

With a rampaging 5-0 wins over lower-ranked Philippines and Maldives, the Indian men's team too has qualified for the quarter-finals from Group D.

Taking the court first, Olympic silver-medallist Sindhu dished out a fine attacking performance to beat Yamaguchi 21-19, 21-15 in 36 minutes.

#lunchtimewiththesegirls#asianchampionship#alorsetar#teamevent#☺️💜

A post shared by sindhu pv (@pvsindhu1) on Feb 6, 2018 at 11:53pm PST

By virtue of this win, World No 4 Sindhu now enjoys a 5-3 head-to-head record against Yamaguchi.

However, Sindhu did not get enough support from her teammates as Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli was no match for World No 13 Sayaka Sato, losing the second singles 12-21, 10-21 to help Japan draw level.

Doubles specialist Ashwini Ponnappa was then tamed 14-21, 12-21 by World No 16 Aya Ohori in the third singles match as Japan took a 2-1 lead.

.@P9Ashwini makes #NoExcuses to stick to her regime. | https://t.co/0zwaYl3USg https://t.co/PJMCINjN4K
— Red Bull India (@inRedBull) February 7, 2018

It was then left to the doubles specialists to bring India back into the tie but both the Indian pairs went down after a good fight.

The onus was on Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant to draw parity for India but they lost 17-21, 17-21 against Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto in the first doubles match to hand Japan an unassailable 3-1 lead.

The script turned out to be the same for India in the last inconsequential match of the tie as Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy lost 18-21, 18-21 to Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi.