India beats Indonesia 4-1 in Sudirman Cup

Gold Coast: Putting aside their dismal performance in their first tie, India defeated Indonesia 4-1 in a do-or-die encounter of the Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton championship at the Carrara Indoor Sports Stadium here on Tuesday.

India, who were struggling against Denmark on Monday, proved superior as apart from the men's doubles pair, all the shuttlers rose to the occasion.

Ashwini Ponnappa, who was paired with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy in mixed doubles and with N. Sikki Reddy for womens' doubles displayed her class as she won both the matches.

In the first match in the mixed doubles category, Ponnappa and Rankireddy had to fight hard against Tontowi Ahmad and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja to prevail over them 22-20, 17-21, 21-19 in a marathon match.

In the men's singles category, Kidambi Srikanth sealed a contrasting win as the Guntur lad outplayed Jonatan Christie in straight sets.

Srikanth took only 39 minutes to beat the Indonesia player 21-15, 21-16.

It was a bad day for the men's doubles pair of Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty as they were beaten by Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo 9-21, 17-21 in 26 minutes of play.

Indian ace P.V. Sindhu played true to her reputation and gave India a 3-1 lead when she defeated Fitriani Fitriani in 42 minutes.

Right from the start, Sindhu displayed some good shots and court movements to overpower her opponent. The Hyderabadi lass defeated the Indonesia player 21-8, 21-19.

The last match in the women's doubles saw the Indian pair Ponnappa and Reddy playing their best game against Della Destiara Haris and Rosyita Eka Putri Sari. The Indian pair took 45 minutes to beat their opponents 21-12, 21-19.

Day three of Badminton's 2017 Sudirman Cup on Australia's picturesque Gold Coast served up few surprises on Tuesday.

In other ties, Malaysia demolished Germany 5-0, completely outclassing the Europeans in every sense, and it was a similar story when Vietnam took on Canada, reports Xinhua news agency.

Although the North Americans worked hard, they simply could not match the precision of the Vietnamese players.

Macau of China also spent the afternoon giving free lessons on court, beating New Caledonia 5-0 in a ruthless display of efficiency.

In the final grouping of the afternoon, Scotland overcame New Zealand 4-1 and home side Australia defeated Austria 5-0. Fiji also defeated Tahiti 4-1.

The tie between Singapore and the United States ended in a 5-0 battering, with the Americans overwhelmed in every department of the game.

IANS