New Delhi, July 1: India put up a fighting display against badminton powerhouse Malaysia but were unfortunate to end on the wrong side of the 2-3 score line as their challenge in the Badminton Asia Junior Mixed Team Championships ended at the quarterfinal stage. The players will now participate in the individual championship beginning Wednesday.

In the quarterfinals Monday, India made yet another change to their mixed doubles pairing, combining Sanskar Saraswat with Shravani Walekar. The duo gave the team the lead with a 21-16, 13-21, 21-17 win over Kang Khai Xing and Noraqilha Maisarah. The Senior National Badminton Championship runners-up Tanvi Sharma then doubled India’s lead when she got the better of Siti Zulaikha 21-15, 15-21, 22-20 in the girls' singles.

India looked on course for an upset win when Pranay Shettigar clinched the opening game against Muhammad Faiq. But he could not sustain the momentum and lost 15-21, 21-18, 21-19 in an hour and six minutes and Malaysia then grabbed the opportunity. Walekar and Navya Kanderi went down 16-21, 15-21 against Bui Ong Xin Yee and Carmen Ting and then the boys' doubles combination of Bhargav Ram Arigela and Arsh Mohammad lost to Kang and Aaron Tai 18-21, 10-21.

Speaking about the team’s overall performance, Badminton Association of India (BAI) secretary Sanjay Mishra said, “I am extremely happy with the way the team fought and came within striking distance of a medal. Some of these youngsters were playing in such a competition for the first time but hardly showed any nerves. I am sure they will come up with a strong showing in the individual events starting two days later.”

The loss in the quarterfinals notwithstanding, the squad had a lot of positives to take from the competition as Tanvi Sharma remained unbeaten in all her matches and the changes in the mixed doubles combination worked well.

In fact, India did not lose any girls' singles match as Navya Kanderi also punched above her weight to win the only rubber against Indonesia in the group stage.

(IANS)

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