Sudirman Cup: India stun former champions Indonesia 4-1 to stay afloat for knockout berth

PTI

Gold Coast (Australia): India dished out a dominating show to notch up a stunning 4-1 win over former champions Indonesia to keep themselves afloat for a knockout berth in the Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton championship here today.

After suffering an embarrassing 1-4 defeat against Denmark in the opening match yesterday, India desperately needed to win this contest against fifth seeds Indonesia.

India rode on stupendous performances by K Srikanth, P V Sindhu and the the experienced Ashwini Ponnappa, who won both the mixed doubles and women's doubles match, alongwith Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and N Sikki Reddy respectively to outwit Indonesia for the first time in team events.

Both Denmark and India now have won one match each and the knockout berths would be decided only after tomorrow's clash between Indonesia and Denmark.

If Indonesia defeat Denmark, it will come down to the number of matches, games and points as only two can qualify for the knockout stage from Group 1 D.

India, ranked ninth, have managed to reach the knockout stage of the tournament only once during the 2011 edition, while in the last two editions they couldn't even cross the group stage.

Starting the proceedings, the new pair of Satwiksairaj and Ashwini produced another gritty performance to eke out a 22-20 17-21 21-19 over Tontowi Ahmad and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in a mixed doubles match that lasted an hour and six minutes.

Former World No. 3 Srikanth, who had reached the finals at Singapore Open recently, saw off Jonatan Christie 21-15 21 -16 to make it 2-0 in India's favour.

Satwiksairaj and Chirag Shetty then suffered a 9-21 17-21 loss against World No. 1 Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo as Indonesia gained a point.

However, Olympic silver-medallist P V Sindhu then defeated Fitriani Fitriani 21-9 21-19 in a 42-minute women's singles match to guide India to an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match rubber.

In the fifth match, the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold runners-up pair of Ashwini and N Sikki Reddy then prevailed 21-12 21-19 over World No 15 Della Destiara Haris and Rosyita Eka Putri Sar to complete a 4-1 drubbing.