It was a mixed day for India in the Thomas and Uber Cup, with the women crushing Germany 5-0 in the Uber cup and the men being handed a narrow 2-3 defeat against Hong Kong in Thomas Cup in Kunshan, China on Tuesday.
Saina Nehwal began proceedings for Indian women easing past Fabienne Deprez in straight sets of 21-15, 21-10. This was followed by PV Sindhu defeating Luise Heim, again in straight sets of 21-7, 21-12.
The celebrated pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa bounced back from a 14-21 deficit in the first set and went on to defeat Linda Efler and Lara Kaepplin 21-9, 21-8 in the remaining sets of a match lasting 41 minutes, giving India a 3-0 lead.
In the first of the two remaining games, Ruthvika Shivani Gadde hammered Yvonne Li 21-5, 21-15. N Sikki Reddy and Sindhu teamed up to beat Isabel Hertrich and Franzisk Volkman 21-18, 19-21, 22-20 in the second.
Earlier in the day, World No. 21 Ajay Jayaram kicked things off for Indian men against Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong, losing in straight games 21-13, 21-12.
Olympic bound pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy lost the opening doubles game 19-21, 12-21 in 32 minutes. Sai Praneeth then gave India a ray of hope defeating World No. 14 Yun Hu 23-21, 23-21 in a nail biting match.
However the joy didn’t last long as the pair of Satwik Sai Raj and Chirag lost 10-21, 11-21 to Tsz Kit Chan and Cheuk Him Low.
Sourabh Varma helped India gain some consolation though in the last game, upsetting World No. 17 Nan Wei 17-21, 21-19, 21-9.
Indian men, staring at an early exit from the tournament will take on Indonesia on Wednesday. While the women have a huge game on Wednesday against Japan, who defeated them 2-3 in the semi-finals of last edition of the tournament.