Badminton Asia Team Championships: India's challenge in the Badminton Asia Team Championships being played at Qingdao, China, came to an end after the men went down 1-3 against Korea while the women lost 0-3 against favourites China in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Having qualified second in Group C behind Japan, India depended on their singles strength against Korea in the men's quarterfinal in the absence of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Lakshya Sen. And it looked like their strategy paid off when Ayush Shetty earned three match points in the first singles against Yoo Tae Bin in the decider. But the former world junior bronze medalist failed to convert those three and despite saving three match points himself and earning one more, the Indian ultimately suffered a 18-21, 21-14, 26-24 reversal in an hour and 24 minutes.
Korea extended their lead with Song Hyun Cho and Kim Won Ho beating the Indian scratch combination of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Chirag Shetty 21-11, 21-13.
