Shuttlers suffer shock defeat

India's hopes of winning a medal in badminton team events at the 18th Asian Games went up in smoke after both the men's and women's sides bowed out of the competition following an identical 1-3 loss in the quarterfinals here on Monday.

The onus was on World No 8 Kidambi Srikanth to give India an early lead but he lost 21-23, 22-20, 10-21 to Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, ranked 12th, to concede a 0-1 lead to Indonesia.

Commonwealth Games Silver medallist pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then put up a gallant fight before going down 21-19, 19-21, 16-21 to World No 1 combination of Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo and Marcus Fernaldi Gideon.

World No 11 Prannoy then brought some cheers back in the Indian camp by reducing the deficit with a 21-15, 19-21, 21-19 win over Jonathan Christie in the third match.

But national champions Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy lost 14-21 18-21 to world no 9 Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto as the men's team crashed out of the contest.

Earlier in the day, the Indian women's team, which won a historic Bronze in the last edition in Incheon, also lost in the quarterfinals to top seeds Japan.

It was always going to be a close affair between Sindhu and World No 2 Akane Yamaguchi but the Indian prevailed in the tight opening singles encounter 21-18, 21-19.

In the crucial second women's singles, Saina Nehwal lost 11-21, 25-23, 16-21 after battling for one hour and 11 minutes against Nozomi Okuhara.

In the must-win fourth rubber, Sindhu paired up with Ashwini Ponappa but the duo lost 13-21, 12-21 to reigning Olympic champions Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi, who were solid with their defense.