India lose their opening matches in Thomas Cup & Uber Cup Finals in Bangkok
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It was a double blow for India in the Thomas Cup and Uber Cup Finals being played at Impact Arena, Bangkok, Thailand.
On Sunday the Indians suffered a 4-1 defeat to France in their opening Group A match while their women fell to a similar defeat to Canada, also in a Group A encounter.
The men, playing without K. Srikanth in the men's singles and doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, also paid a heavy price for resting H.S. Prannoy and national champions Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy.
The women's team is without Rio Olympics and Commonwealth Games silver medallist for their campaign in Bangkok.
World No 18 B Sai Praneeth won the only point for India against France by winning the first singles with a 21-7, 21-18 win over Brice Leverdez.
In the first doubles, MR Arjun-Ramchandran Shlok suffered a 13-21, 16-21 defeat to Bastian Kersaudy-Julien Maio.
Sameer Verma, the winner of the Swiss Open, failed in his attempt to get India back on track after he fell to 18-21, 22-20, 18-21 defeat to Lucas Corvee in the second singles.
Arun George-Sanyam Shukla went out 10-21, 12-21 to Thom Gicquel-Ronan Labar in the second doubles before Toma Junior Popov defeated Lakshya sen 22-20, 19-21, 21-19 for France's fourth point.
In the Uber Cup, India never recovered from Saina Nehwal's defeat in the first singles.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist went down 21-15, 16-21, 16-21 to Michelle Li.
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