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Gold Coast (Australia), May 23
India dished out a dominating show to notch up a stunning 4-1 win over former champions Indonesia to keep themselves in the race for a knockout berth in the Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton championship here today.
After suffering an embarrassing 1-4 defeat against Denmark in the opening match on Monday, India desperately needed to win against Indonesia. India rode on stupendous performances by K Srikanth, PV Sindhu and the experienced Ashwini Ponnappa, who won both the mixed doubles and the women’s doubles with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and N Sikki Reddy, respectively, to outwit Indonesia for the first time in team events.
Both Denmark and India have won one match each now and the knockout berths would be decided after tomorrow’s clash between Indonesia and Denmark. If Indonesia defeat Denmark, the equation will become complicated as only two teams can qualify for the knockouts from each group. India, ranked ninth, have reached the knockout stage of the tournament only once, during the 2011 edition.
Starting the proceedings today, the new pair of Satwiksairaj and Ashwini produced a gritty performance to eke out a 22-20 17-21 21-19 win over Tontowi Ahmad and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in the mixed doubles. The contest lasted 66 minutes.
Former world No. 3 Srikanth, who had reached the finals at the Singapore Open recently, saw off Jonatan Christie 21-15 21 -16 to make it 2-0 in India’s favour.
Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty then suffered a 9-21 17-21 loss against world No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo as Indonesia gained a point. However, PV Sindhu defeated Fitriani 21-9 21-19 in a 42-minute contest to give India an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match rubber.
In the fifth match, Ashwini and N Sikki Reddy prevailed 21-12 21-19 over world No. 15 Della Destiara Haris and Rosyita Eka Putri Sar to complete a 4-1 drubbing. — PTI
Results
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