Thomas & Uber Cup 2024: India women lose 0-5 to China as Anmol Kharb is forced to retire

India finished the group stage of Uber Cup 2024 in Chengdu, China in second place after suffering a 0-5 defeat to the hosts on Tuesday. Indian women’s team has already qualified for the quarter-finals after beating Canada and Singapore despite stalwarts like PV Sindhu pulling out of the competition.

China, however, proved to be a tough challenge for the young Indian team who failed to win a single game in the five-match tie and 17-year-old national champion Anmol Kharb was forced to retire after twisting her ankle during the second singles contest.

Olympic champion and world no.2 Chen Yu Fei started off the proceedings for China with an easy 21-12 21-10 win over 83rd-ranked Isharani Baruah.

“A little disappointed in my game because I made too many errors, I thought I would play good with her but it was an easy win for her…the pace was really high, I had to increase my speed,” Isharani said after her match.

“Her variations were good, and all her strokes were going in the third court and it wasn’t comfortable to hit well. It was a tough game but it was a good experience,” she added.

National champions Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra, ranked 67, were no match for reigning world champions Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan, who doubled China’s lead with a 21-13 21-12 win.

After losing the first game 9-21 and trailing 1-4 in the second against Han Yue, Anmol rolled her right ankle while trying to defend a point.

She received medical attention but the pain didn’t seem to subside and the ankle looked swollen, forcing her to retire from the match giving China a 3-0 unassailable lead.

In the next two matches, Liu Shen Shu and Tan Ning defeated Simran Singh and Ritika Thaker 21-9 21-10, while Tanvi Sharma lost 7-21 16-21 to Wang Zhi Yi as China completed the 5-0 drubbing of India.

Ashmita Chaliha sat out of the contest.

India have sent an under-strength team to the Uber Cup after Sindhu, Tanisha Crasto, Ashwini Ponnappa, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand pulled out of the tournament.

With PTI inputs