Teenage sensation Anmol Kharb left the badminton court in tears owing to an ankle injury as an under-strength Indian women's team suffered a 0-5 defeat to the mighty China in its final group A fixture of the Uber Cup in Chengdu (China) on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (More Badminton News)
Having already qualified for the quarterfinals by picking up successive wins against Canada and Singapore, Ashmita Chaliha sat out the contest against the 15-time champions. The team is competing without double Olympic-medallist P V Sindhu, who opted out of the tournament.
It was a reality check for the young Indian team as it could not take a single game from the Chinese during the five-match tie.
To add to India's woes, 17-year-old Anmol was forced to retire after twisting her ankle during the second singles contest.
Olympic champion and world no.2 Chen Yu Fei started off the proceedings for China with an easy 21-12 21-10 win over 83rd ranked Isharani Baruah.
"A little disappointed in my game because I made too many errors, I thought I would play good with her but it was an easy win for her...the pace was really high, I had to increase my speed," Isharani said after her match.
"Her variations were good, and all her strokes were going in the third court and it wasn't comfortable to hit well. It was a tough game but it was a good experience," she added.
National champions Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra, ranked 67, were no match for reigning world champions Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan, who doubled China's lead with a 21-13 21-12 win.
After losing the first game 9-21 and trailing 1-4 in the second against Han Yue, Anmol rolled her right ankle while trying to defend a point.
She received medical attention but the pain didn't seem to subside and the ankle looked swollen, forcing her to retire from the match giving China a 3-0 unassailable lead.
In the next two matches, Liu Shen Shu and Tan Ning defeated Simran Singh and Ritika Thaker 21-9 21-10, while Tanvi Sharma lost 7-21 16-21 to Wang Zhi Yi as China completed the 5-0 drubbing of India.
India will end the group stage proceedings in second place behind China.
