India’s title defence in the women’s team event came to a disappointing end after a 0-3 loss to a second-string China in the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Team Championships here on Friday.India had won a historic gold medal in the previous edition in 2024, but the absence of the talismanic PV Sindhu due to a niggle made the task of defending the title a tough one.World No. 42 Tanvi Sharma, who had been leading the charge in the first singles with two wins earlier in the tournament, failed to provide a positive start, losing 9-21 9-21 to World No. 10 Gao Fang Jie in a lop-sided opener.The 17-year-old Tanvi, a world junior championships silver medallist, struggled to match the pace of the Chinese shuttler throughout the contest.The doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly then put up a spirited fight before going down 22-24 18-21 to the world No. 4 combination of Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian, as China took a decisive 2-0 lead.The Indian pair fought back from 10-16 down in the opening game to draw level but failed to convert, losing the first set. In the second game, Treesa and Gayatri held a 13-10 lead before conceding a run of points, allowing the Chinese pair to regain control and close out the match.Facing a do-or-die situation, Rakshitha Ramraj battled hard against Xu Wen Jing in the second singles but eventually lost 14-21 21-15 17-21 in a 69-minute contest.India had begun their campaign with a 5-0 sweep of Myanmar before suffering a narrow 2-3 defeat to Thailand in their final group tie on Thursday.The Indian men’s team will face South Korea in the quarterfinals later in the day.India have opted not to field top singles player Lakshya Sen, with Ayush Shetty slated to take on Yoo Tae Bin in the opening men’s singles of the tie.Lakshya did not feature in India’s previous tie against Japan and had earlier lost to former world champion Loh Kean Yew during the group-stage encounter against Singapore.India will also miss Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, who is returning home to attend his father’s first death anniversary. In his absence, Chirag Shetty will partner Hariharan Amsakarunan in the first men’s doubles.Former world championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth is set to face Choi Ji Hoon in the second singles. Pruthvi Krishnan and Sai Pratheek will contest the second doubles, while Tharun Mannepalli will play Cho Hyeon Woo in the third singles.
