India coach Pullella Gopichand on Wednesday accused Japanese badminton pair Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa of "wanting to lose" their group match after his women's doubles team Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa failed to qualify for the knockout stage in Group B amid allegations of match-throwing, at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
India's formidable duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa advanced to the women's doubles quarter-finals of the China Open badminton after eking out an easy 21-9, 21-12 victory over Iris Wang and Rena Wang of USA, in Shanghai, on Thursday.
Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy sailed into the pre-quarter-finals, but it was heartbreak for Parupalli Kashyap in the men's singles at the World Badminton Championships in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Twice World Championships bronze medalist P V Sindhu ran out of steam and was beaten by Korea's Sung Ji Hyun in the quarter-finals of badminton's showpiece event, in Jakarta, on Friday. The 20-year-old from Hyderabad, who had beaten Olympic champion and former world No 1 Li Xuerui of China in the previous round on Thursday, lost 17-21, 21-19, 21-16 in 82 minutes.
Ace shuttlers Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu came up with spectacular victories but the Indian women's team still had to be satisfied with the bronze medal after it went down fighting 2-3 to five-time champions Japan in its maiden semifinals appearance in the Uber Cup on Friday.
Check out the gold medallists on Day 13 of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday:
