Sudirman Cup 2021 | India bow out after 4-1 win over hosts Finland
India bowed out of the Sudirman Cup after a 4-1 win over Finland in their final Group A match on Wednesday. Kidambi Srikanth finally won his first match of the tournament, as did Malvika Bansod. Unfortunately, the men's doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost their match.
Team India put up a spirited show in their last Group A encounter of the Sudirman Cup on Wednesday, as they beat hosts 4-1. Already out of the quarterfinals race after suffering massive losses to Thailand and China, this came as a consolation win to the low-on-confidence team.
The mixed doubles pair of M R Arjun and Ashwini Ponnappa beat the Finnish duo of Anton Kaisti and Jenny Nystrom 21-9,21-14. Then in men's singles, Kidambi Srikanth had a slight hiccup, but eventually won 16-21,21-14, 21-11 against Kalle Koljonen. On the other hand, Malvika won 21-16,21-11 against Nella Nyqvist.
In a surprise result, the men's doubles pair of Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to Kaisti and Jesper Paul 20-22,19-22 before Tanisha Crasto and Rutaparna Panda beat Mathilda Lindholm and Jenny Nystrom 21-12, 21-13 in the women''s doubles.
Earlier in the competition, India had failed to win even a single match against the mighty Chinese, while against Thailand they had registered a win in the men's doubles section.Â
It is noteworthy that, this is not the full-strength Indian squad in action. The likes of Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and the men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Sarwiksairaj Rankireddy are missing in action, and India has fielded a second-string team.Â