India's lack of bench strength came to the fore as it slumped to a crushing 1-4 defeat against Denamark with top singles stars PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy losing their matches during the team's opening Group D match at the BWF Sudirman Cup Finals, in Xiamen on Sunday. (Highlights | More Badminton News)
Placed alongside Indonesia and England in a tough group, India needed a strong start to keep their qualification hopes alive but failed to deliver, conceding an unassailable 0-3 lead after losing the first three matches of the five-match tie.
Denmark, playing without their top singles players Viktor Axelsen and Mia Blichfeldt, still proved too strong as India's star shuttlers Prannoy and Sindhu lost their respective matches in straight games.
The mixed doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila opened India's campaign but went down 13-21 14-21 to world No. 7 Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund, handing Denmark a 1-0 lead.
Up next, HS Prannoy, still not at his physical best following a bout of chikungunya, suffered a 15-21 16-21 defeat against world No. 3 Anders Antonsen in the men's singles.
Although Prannoy fought hard to stay in contention for most parts, Antonsen pulled away at crucial junctures.
The men's doubles match turned out to be a complete mismatch as world No. 1 pair Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen demolished the inexperienced Indian duo of Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi 21-7, 21-4 to seal the tie for Denmark.
World No. 18 Sindhu, who has struggled for form this season with only three wins from five tournaments, squandered big leads of 20-16 and 19-12 in her two games to lose 20-22, 21-23 against Line Højmark Kjaersfeldt, piling on India's misery.
Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra salvaged some pride for India with a win in the women's doubles, beating lower-ranked Danish pair of Natasja P. Anthonisen and Alexandra Bøje in the final match.
India will next face a formidable Indonesian side in their match on April 29 at the Xiamen Fenghuang Gymnasium .
India's best performance at the Sudirman Cup remains two quarterfinal appearances in 2011 and 2017.
While India have made giant strides in recent years — notably winning the Thomas Cup in 2022 and the Badminton Asia Women's Team Championships in 2024 — the absence of key doubles pairs, including the men's duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and the women's team of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, badly hit their chances of making a mark in this edition of the prestigious biennial World Mixed Team Championships.
