Dubai: Although India lost to China 2-3 in the 2023 Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship (BAMTC) quarter-finals on Saturday, the Indian players demonstrated strong fighting spirits and they proudly took home their first-ever medal (bronze) from BAMTC.
China’s World No. 121 Lei Lanxi was fearless to give China its first point when the 25-year-old defeated World No. 9 HS Prannoy 21-13, 21-15.
China cruised to a 2-0 lead when World No. 101 Gao Fangjie overcame World No. 9 PV Sindhu in a hard-fought 21-9, 16-21, 21-18 victory that lasted 70 minutes.
The Indian team didn’t give up after trailing 0-2 when the scratch men’s doubles pair Dhruv Kapila/Chirag Shetty pulled off an upset to down World No. 21 He Ji Ting/Zhou Hao Dong 21-19, 21-19 before India’s two 19-year-old women’s doubles players – Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand Pullela held their nerves to beat Liu Sheng Shu/Tan Ning 21-18, 13-21, 21-19 to push the tie down to the wire.
Nevertheless, Jiang Zhen Bang/Wei Ya Xin were too strong for Ishaan Bhatnagar/Tanisha Crasto in the mixed doubles match, as Jiang/Wei lifted China over India with a 21-17, 21-13 win.
On Friday, India also staged a remarkable comeback from 0-2 to eventually beat Hong Kong 3-2 and qualified for the semi-finals.
China will play Korea on Sunday. Korea didn’t face any trouble by beating Thailand 3-1 in the semi-finals.
