Sudirman Cup: Sindhu lone winner in India's 1-4 defeat to Denmark

Rio Olympics silver-medallist P V Sindhu was the only good performer on the dismal day as India slumped to a 1-4 defeat against Denmark in their opening match of the Sudirman Cup mixed team badminton championship at the Carrara Indoor Sports Stadium here on Monday.

Sindhu produced a rich vein of form as she defeated Line Kjaersfeldt 21-18, 21-6 in the women's singles match that lasted almost half an hour.

Apart from the 21-year-old Hyderabadi, no other player rose to the occasion.

In the first match of Group 1D, Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy suffered a 15-21, 21-16, 17-21 defeat against Denmark duo of Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen in a mixed doubles event that lasted around one hour and 10 minutes.

 

In the men's singles event, Ajay Jayaram also failed to rise up to expectations and was beaten 12-21, 7-21 by Viktor Axelsen in a one-sided match that lasted for just 27 minutes.

Meanwhile, the men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy were outplayed 17-21, 15-21 at the hands of former Olympic silver medallists Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen.

In the fifth and final match of the day, Ashwini and N Sikki Reddy, who finished as the runner-ups at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold runners-up, comfortably won the first game before going down to post a 21-18, 15-21, 21-23 defeat to Olympic silver-medallists Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna.

India will now lock horns with Indonesia on Wednesday.