Indian women shuttlers assured themselves of a historic first-ever Badminton Asia Team Championships medal by cruising to a 3-0 win over Hong Kong but their male counterparts failed to replicate the feat, going down narrowly 2-3 to Japan in the quarterfinals in Shah Alam, Malaysia on Friday.
After stunning top seeds China to top the group stage, the India women blanked Hong Kong riding on wins from double Olympic-medallist PV Sindhu, Ashmita Chaliha and the doubles pair of Ashwini Ponappa and Tanisha Crasto.
The Indian women shuttlers will now face top seed Japan, who beat China 3-2 in another quarterfinal.
The Indian men produced a gallant effort but a nervous Kidambi Srikanth imploded in the end, blowing away a 19-12 lead in the third game of the deciding fifth match as they fell short against a second-string Japan in a tightly-contested quarterfinal.
India had won two bronze medals in men's team event in the 2016 and 2020 editions.
Returning from a long injury layoff, Sindhu registered a hard-fought 21-7, 16-21, 21-12 win over a lower-ranked Lo Sin Yan Happy.
The women's doubles combination of Tanisha and Ponnappa then doubled the lead by getting the better of world no. 18 combination of Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam 21-10, 21-14 in 35 minutes.
Ashmita wrapped up the tie with a comfortable 21-12, 21-13 triumph over Yeung Sum Yee, assuring the team of at least a bronze.
"It is a comfortable result for the women's team. I am very happy with their performance," former national coach Vimal Kumar, who is with the team, told PTI from Shah Alam.
"There was a little drift, so it was initially difficult to control the shuttle as it was going out. Sindhu was stretched a bit as it was tough from one end due to the drift but it is a good result, we are in the semifinals."
For the Indian men, it turned out to be a pulsating contest even though Japan, the 2016 finalists, were without their top players -- world no. 6 Kodai Naroka and 2021 world champion doubles pair of Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi.
Known for his never-say-die attitude, HS Prannoy produced yet another spirited fight back as he recovered from 9-19 down in the second game after losing the opener. He even held game points twice but it was not to be as Kento Nishimoto managed to upstage the Indian.
After a 64-minute battle, it was world no. 12 Nishimoto, who walked away with a 21-16, 26-24 win to give Japan a 1-0 lead in the five-match rubber.
World no. 1 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then dished out a splendid show to outwit world no. 30 Kenya Mitsuhashi and Hiroki Okamura 21-15, 21-17 in 40 minutes to bring India back into the contest.
Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen then outlasted Koko Watanabe, ranked 20th, 21-19, 22-20 and broke into a short jig as the win gave India a 2-1 lead.
MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila, world no. 44, however, couldn't seal the match, going down 17-21, 15-21 to scratch pair of Akira Koga and Kazuki Shibata as Japan clawed back.
With the tie evenly poised at 2-2, Srikanth was entrusted with the job of taming his nemesis Kento Momota, a two-time former world champion who has beaten the Indian 13 times in 16 meetings.
The odds were against Srikanth as he had defeated Momota only thrice with the last win coming in 2015. The Indian put up a determined effort only to blow it away in the end.
Srikanth was 16-11 up after a tooth and nail battle and closed out the opening game with his trademark jump smash. The Indian used his forehand cross smashes to trouble the Japanese.
After the change of ends, Momota got his act together and dictated the terms in the rallies to roar back into the contest.
In the deciding game, Srikanth recovered from a 0-3 deficit to zoom to a 19-12 lead but then tragedy struck as he made too many mistakes at the net, allowing the Japanese to reel off eight straight points to grab a match point.
Srikanth saved one with a forehand cross but he sprayed the next one to the net to again hand over the advantage to the Japanese, who sealed it when the Indian went wide again.
