New Delhi, 30 September: India's medal hopes, in mixed team event ,went up in a smoke as it suffered a 0-3 defeat against a formidable Malaysia in the quarter-finals of Badminton World Junior Championships in Spokane, USA on Friday
In the mixed doubles Sathwik Reddy Kanapuram and Vaishnavi Khadkekar put up a good fight but lost the first match of the tie 12-21, 16-21 against Bryan Jeremy Goonting and Chan Wen Tse.
Ayush Shetty tried hard to draw the parity in the boys' singles, as after losing the first game 18-21, he triumphed in the second game 21-16, but ultimately lost the decider 16-21 against Eogene Ewe.
In the girls' singles Devika Sihag s started off strongly with a 21-18 win in the first game. However, she couldn't maintain the momentum and went down 16-21, 14-21 in the next two games against Ong Xin Yee of Malaysia.
In the next match, for place between 5th/ 6th place, India lost to Japan 0-3 .
Samarveer and Radhika Sharma gave their best effort in the mixed doubles match but fell short, losing 15-21, 18-21 against Daigo Tanioaka and Maya Taguchi of Japan.
Lokesh Reddy Kalagotla faced a closely contested battle, eventually losing 14-21, 20-22 against Yuna Nakagawa of Japan.
Unnati Hooda displayed resilience but narrowly missed out on victory, losing 21-15, 19-21, 19-21 against Japan's Mihane Endo.
India will face Thailand tomorrow in the last match of the mixed team event to determine the 7th / 8th position.
HSB