Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2023: India Enter Semifinals After Sensational Comeback, Ensure First-Ever Medal In Continental Tournament

Down 0-2, the Indians showed great fighting spirit as the doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Chirag Shetty and PV Sindhu levelled the scores after reverses in the first two matches.

In the women's singles match, two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu had to dig deep to get the better of Saloni Samirbhai Mehta 16-21 21-7 21-9 and level the scores at 2-2. ( Image Source :AFP )

Dubai: India staged a remarkable comeback to down Hong Kong 3-2 and qualify for the semifinals of the Asia Mixed Team Badminton Championships and ensure a first-ever medal in the continental tournament here on Friday.

Down 0-2, the Indians showed great fighting spirit as the doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Chirag Shetty and PV Sindhu levelled the scores after reverses in the first two matches.

In the first match of the tie, the mixed doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto fought hard before losing 24-26 17-21 against Lee Chun Hei Reginald and Tsz Yau NG to hand Hong Kong a 1-0 lead.

World No. 11 and Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen squandered a game lead to lose 22-20 19-21 18-21 against world No. 14 Ka Long Angus NG in one hour and 10 minutes.

The men's doubles pair of Kapila and Shetty pulled one back for India with a hard-fought 20-22 21-16 21-11 win over Tang Chun Man and Yeung Shing Choi.

In the women's singles match, two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu had to dig deep to get the better of Saloni Samirbhai Mehta 16-21 21-7 21-9 and level the scores at 2-2.

In the decider, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand defeated Tsz Yau NG and Wing Yung NG 21-13 21-12 in the women's doubles to clinch the tie.

Earlier, India had finished as the group toppers to qualify for the quarterfinals. PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy tasted wins in their respective singles matches and overall India beat Malaysia on Thursday. Prannoy started for India and even though he lost the opening game 18-21, he came back from behind to win the match 18-21, 21-13 and 25-23.

On the other hand, Sindhu needed 34 minutes to beat lower-ranked Ling Ching Wong 21-13, 21-17 in the women's singles and give India a 2-0 lead.

Howver, the men's doubles team of Dhruv Kapila and Chirag Shetty lost 16-21, 10-21 to the duo of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik as Malaysia made it 1-2.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand put India in the ascendancy as they shocked Commonwealth Games champions Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharanto 23-21, 21-15 to hand India an unassailable 3-1 lead.

India had earlier beaten Kazakhstan and UAE 5-0 each in their first two group matches.