Doubles specialist Satwiksairaj Rankireddy’s absence proved crucial as the Indian men’s team suffered a 1-4 loss against a young Malaysian side in its second group B match of the Badminton Asia Team Championships here on Thursday.
With Satwik pulling out the event due to an ankle sprain, India were forced to field two scratch pairs — MR Arjun and Chirag Shetty and Dhruv Kapila and Lakshya Sen, both of whom lost their respective ties.
Kidambi Srikanth was the only shuttler to register a win as world No 11 B Sai Praneeth and HS Prannoy too went down in the other singles in straight games at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
After this loss, India finished second in the group with win one and as many defeat and will now take on Thailand in the quarterfinals today.
It will take a extraordinary effort from India now to get across Thailand in the last eight.
Thailand boosts of quality players such as world No 12 Kantaphon Wangcharoen, three-time world junior champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn and 2018 Japan Open runners-up Khosit Phetpradab in the singles.