A second-string Japanese team blanked India 3-0 in the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championship in Qingdao, China, on Friday.
Despite missing the services of their top singles and doubles players, Japan outclassed the last edition bronze medallists at the last-eight stage.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!World No.37 pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto went down to the world No.12 pair of Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito 13-21, 21-17, 21- 13 in the opening rubber.
Malvika was no match for Tomoka Miyazaki. The world No. 8 Japanese world junior champion got to play the wom- en's singles after world No.3 Akane Yamaguchi withdrew.
Malvika, a replacement for PV Sindhu, found Miyazaki too hot to handle and lost 21- 12, 21-19. Malvika was leading 17-15 in the second game. But the Indian southpaw made a couple of costly unforced errors, which allowed Miyazaki to rally.
Though she saved a match point at 18-20, Miyazaki benefited from a miscued hit.
HS Prannoy was off-colour and suffered a 14-21, 21-15, 12-21 loss to Kenta Nishimoto.
Down 0-2, the onus was on Prannoy; but in the decider his casual approach allowed Nishimoto to take a 6-0 lead.
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