Uber Cup: Inspiring young Indian squad falls short in quarters to Japan

Indian women's team campaign concluded at the quarter-final stage of the Uber Cup 2024, after a straight 0-3 defeat against a strong Japanese team in Chengdu, China on Thursday.

The young Indian women's team showed excellent grit and fighting spirit but fell short in front of an experienced opponent. Ashmita Chaliha pushed the world no.11, Aya Ohori down to the corners but could not convert it onto a win while Isharani Baruah showed some brute power in her smashes against former world no.1, Nozomi Okuhara.

Match of the tie

The tie started with a fiery match between the top women's singles pairing of both teams where India's Ashmita Chaliha, ranked 53 in the world, took on the challenge of an in-form Aya Ohori.

Ashmita wasn't scared by the caliber of her opponent and started a very solid neck-on-neck game closely keeping in check till the mid-game interval. After that, Aya showcased a wide variety of shots and put the Indians under immense pressure which caused a lot of errors and Aya clinched the first game after 10 out of the last 11 points.

Ashmita didn't lose her confidence and continued her gritty rally game in the second game, she was very accurate with her placements on the sidelines. She managed to put pressure on Aya using this precise game and forced a decider in the match.

In the third game, Aya became very anxious and made a lot of baseline errors, marking a big 8-2 lead for the Indian but then, a few close errors from Ashmita, brought-back Aya in the game.

Ashmita might have missed a big win but she showed some improvement in the tournament, gaining a lot of experience playing on the top board in the absence of PV Sindhu.

In the other women's singles, the 20-year-old Isharani Baruah tried to put up a great fight against Nozomi Okuhara but made plenty of errors in the dying moments of both games hence conceded a straight-game defeat, 15-21, 12-21.

The women's doubles pairing of Priya Devi Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra had a mighty task against the world no.4 Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida, who easily (8-21, 9-21) clinched a victory over them in the match lasting just 32 minutes.

What's Next

Indian women's team campaign is over here with this defeat but a lot to learn from this tournament experience for this young squad and implement that in their future endeavours.

Whereas, the men's team will be in action for their quarterfinal clash with the host, China at 2:30 PM IST later today. The defending champions, the Indian team have their eyes on another podium finish at this prestigious team competition.