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Curtains for India in London men’s doubles
Curtains fell on India's campaign in the men's doubles event of the World Badminton Championships after the pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas went down fighting in the second round in London on Tuesday.
Curtains fell on India's campaign in the men's doubles event of the World Badminton Championships after the pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas went down fighting in the second round in London on Tuesday.
Rupesh and Sanave squandered a one-game lead to lose 19-21, 21-11, 21-12 in 48 minutes to eighth seeded Indonesian duo of Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan.
Rupesh and Sanave had earlier defeated the German combination of Michael Fuchs and Oliver Roth 9-21 21-18 21-17 in their tournament opener yesterday.
With Rupesh and Sanave's exit, the country's challenge came to an end in the men's doubles event as the other Indian pair in fray — Pranav Chopra and Tarun Kona had already crashed out in the first round, losing 17-21 13-21 to Hung Ling Chen and Yu Lang Lin of Chinese Taipei last night.
Against the higher-ranked Indonesian pair today, Rupesh and Sanave raced to a 4-1 and then 7-3 lead in the opening game. It was a neck-and-neck fight till 19 points before the Indians stepped up the accelerator and pocketed two straight points to seal the opening game in their favour.
Chandra and Gunawan came out all guns blazing in the next and took a 9-2 lead before drawing parity by pocketing the game 21-11.
After the initial burst, Rupesh and Sanave faded away as the Indonesians refused to concede an inch to win the decider 21-12 and book their ticket to the pre-quarterfinal round.
