By IANS
Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) : Indian men’s badminton team crashed out of the Thomas Cup Asian Zone qualifiers after losing 0-3 to Malaysia in the quarterfinal here Friday.
Anup Sridhar lost to Lee Chong Wei 15-21, 14-21 in the first singles match. Then doubles combination of Sanave Thomas and Rupesh Kumar went down to Choong Tan and Fook 9-21, 10-21 in the doubles encounter.
Arvind Bhat sweated it out against Wong Choong Hann but was finally overpowered 16-21, 21-18, 10-21. With the semi-final berth, Malaysia has advanced to the World Group stage of the championship.
India’s women team’s campaign at the Uber Cup also ended on a disappointing note as they lost 1-3 to Korea.
National Champion Saina Nehwal gave India a rousing start as she beat Jun Jae Youn 21-17, 21-12. But rest of the women shuttlers failed to capitalise on the start and lost the next three consecutive matches to hand over the tie to the Koreans.
Aparna Balan and Shruti Kurian went down to Lee Kyung Won and Lee Hyo Jung 13-21, 9-21 in the opening doubles. Aditi Mutatkar was then drubbed 19-21, 5-21 by Hwang Hye Youn, while Saina and Jwala Gutta lost the second double encounter to Ha Jung Eun and Kim Min Jung 10-21, 20-22.