By IANS
Ho Chi Min city (Vietnam) : India were drubbed 5-0 by Japan to finish runners-up in Group C of the Thomas Cup Asian Zone qualifiers here Thursday.
India will now have a tough task to qualify for the World Group as they face Group A topper Malaysia in the quarterfinals. A semi-final appearance alone can reserve their place in the next level.
Japan’s Shoji Sato got the better of Anup Sridhar 21-17, 21-15 in the first match of the tie. Then top doubles duo of Rupesh Kumar and Thomas Sanave put up a fight but went down 19-21, 21-19, 14-21 to Masuda Keita and Ohtsuka Tadashi.
Arvind Bhat also gave his best but failed to overcome Sasaki Sho 18-21, 21-18, 15-21 in almost an hour-long game.
Akshay Dewalakr and V. Diju then lost the second doubles tie to Iketa Shintaro and Sakamoto Shuichi 13-21, 12-21, while National Champion Chetan Anand went down to Tago Kenichi 19-21, 19-21 in the last match of the tie.
Following in the footsteps of their male counterparts, Indian women also lost their Uber Cup tie 1-4 against Malaysia.
National Champion Saina Nehwal squandered a one-set advantage to go down 21-15 20-22, 17-21 while Trupti Murgunde lost 10-21, 12-21 to Julia Pei Xian in the next singles match.
Aditi Mutatkar fetched India’s only win as she beat Anita Raj Kaur 21-9, 26-24 to make it 2-1 for India.
But top doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurian went down to Wong Pei Tty and Chin Eei Hui 16-21, 17-21 to dash any Indian hopes of a comeback.
Saina and Aparna Balan then lost their doubles tie to Lim Pek and Haw Chiou 21-16, 10-21, 11-21.