India’s badminton campaign at the Asian Games suffered a double blow on Sunday as both the women’s doubles and mixed doubles pairs were eliminated at the quarterfinal stage. The exits of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, alongside Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, marked a challenging day for the Indian contingent in Hangzhou.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who arrived at the tournament following a notable bronze medal performance at the world championships in New Delhi, were unable to overcome the world No. 5 Malaysian duo, Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan. Despite a competitive start, the Indian pair ultimately fell in straight games, 18-21, 9-21.
Tough Battles Against Top-Tier Opposition
The women's doubles encounter began with high intensity. After falling behind 3-8, Jolly and Gopichand clawed their way back to level the score at 10-10. The two pairs remained neck-and-neck until 14-14, but a series of unforced errors from the Indians allowed the Malaysian world championship silver medallists to pull ahead. Although the Indians managed to save two game points, the Malaysians secured the opening game 21-18.
The second game proved more difficult for the Indian duo. Despite an early 3-0 lead, they struggled to maintain momentum as the Malaysians capitalized on a string of errors to surge ahead 11-4. The gap proved insurmountable, and the match concluded with the Malaysians securing a decisive 21-9 victory in the second game.
In the mixed doubles category, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto put up a spirited performance against the world No. 1 Chinese pair, Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dongping. The Indian duo pushed their opponents to three games before eventually succumbing to a 14-21, 21-18, 18-21 defeat. The loss concluded a difficult day for India, with the focus now shifting to the women's singles competition, where two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and Unnati Hooda are scheduled to face Chen Yu Fei and Akane Yamaguchi, respectively.
