New Delhi: Women’s doubles combination of Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra came up with an impressive win, but injury-hit Team India could not avoid a 1-4 loss against the formidable Denmark in their Group D opener in the BWF Sudirman Cup FInals 2025 in Xiamen, China on Sunday.
With India missing the services of their first-choice men’s and women’s doubles combinations, they needed the bench strength to step up. Up stepped Tanisha and Shruti, showing what they are capable of with a 21-13, 21-18 win over Natasia Anthonisen and Alexandra Boje in the last rubber.
Earlier, former world champion PV Sindhu came closest to bagging another point for India against Line Kjaersfeldt. The 29-year-old showed glimpses of her old self as she took the lead in both games, but could not maintain the momentum and lost narrowly 20-22, 21-23.
The tie began with mixed doubles, where India’s Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crato faced opponents Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund. Dhruv and Tanisha started strong but went down 13-21, 14-21 in straight games, giving Denmark the early advantage.
Asian Games bronze medallist HS Prannoy, then, took the fight to Anders Antonsen in the men’s singles rubber, but ended up on the wrong end of the 15-21, 16-21 score line.
India will now look to bounce back in their next Sudirman Cup tie against Asian heavyweights Indonesia, which will be played on Court 1 of the Fenghuang Gymnasium on Tuesday.
Results:
India 1-4 Denmark: Dhruv Kapila/Tanisha Crasto lost to Jesper Toft/Amalie Magelund 13-21, 14-21; HS Prannoy lost to Anders Antonsen 15-21, 16-21; Hariharan Amsakarunan/R Ruban Kumar lost to Kim Astrup/Anders Rasmussen 7-21, 4-21; PV Sindhu lost to Line Kjaersfeldt 20-22, 21-23; Tanisha Crasto/Shruti Mishra bt Natasia Anthonisen/Alexandra Boje 21-13, 21-18
(IANS)
