The Indian women’s team exited in the quarter-final stage of the 2024 Uber Cup after a 0-3 loss to Japan on Thursday, while the men’s team will be playing for a spot in the semi-final against China later in the day.
Ashmita Chaliha began the tie in a clash against world No 11 Aya Ohori. While the lower-ranked Indian gave a good fight to take the match to a deciding game, Chaliha ultimately lost the match 10-21, 22-20, 15-21.
The doubles match saw Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra completely outclassed by the world No 4 pair of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida to lose in straight games. Finally, former world No 1 Nozomi Okuhara beat youngster Isharani Baruah 21-15, 21-12 to send Japan into the semi-finals.
There was a lot of pressure on both Chaliha and Ohori to give their team a good start in the first match of the tie. Ohori began on the front foot with an 11-9 lead going into the mid-game interval of the first game. Her high serves saw Chaliha make some good returns. But after the break, the Japanese player turned the screws on the world No 53 and won 11 straight points. Ohori eventually closed out the first game 21-10 in commanding fashion.
The second game however, saw Chaliha come back strongly to force Ohori to play defensively. Although the Indian led 11-9 at the break, the two players continued to exchange serves until Ohori had match point at 20-19. However, Chaliha held her nerve and saved a match point before winning the second game 22-20 and taking the match to a deciding game.
The gulf between the two pairs in the second match was immediately observed when the world No 4 pair of Matsuyama and Shida raced to an 11-3 lead at the break. Konjengbam and Mishra didn’t have many answers for the Japanese duo who used their speed and serve to control the rallies and soon closed out the opening game 21-8.
In the second game, the Indians tried to get a look in by responding to the pace of Matsuyama and Shida during rallies. But it proved to be too difficult for the world No 67 pair who ended up losing the second game 21-9 and the match in 33 minutes.
The second singles match saw Baruah go up against world No 17 Okuhara with the latter needing to win to send Japan into the semi-finals. It was clean and fluent hitting from Okuhara, a former world champion, who didn’t have to do anything fancy to trouble Baruah.
Baruah led 11-8 going into the break. However, Okuahara then took charge of the game and won five points in a row, twice, to close out the opening game 21-15.
In the second game, Baruah did well to keep abreast of Okuhara, but the latter went into the break with a lead of 11-9. Okuhara continued her 11-point winning streak on both sides of the break and didn’t allow Baruah to get on serve.
The Indian then ended up winning only three more points as Okuahara won the second game 21-12 and secured Japan’s place in the semi-finals.
The Indian men’s team – the defending champions in the Thomas Cup – will begin their quarter-final tie against China at 2.30 pm IST.