India went down fighting 1-3 to South Korea in the mixed team quarterfinals of the world junior badminton championships. Despite Lakshya Sen's superb efforts, the team will now return home to India without a medal.
Asian Junior champion, Lakshya lived up to expectations but the two losses in the doubles category virtually sealed India's fate and it was all over after the women singles defeat on Thursday.
The quarterfinals opened with mixed doubles event and the Indian duo of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila fought hard to grab the opening game but lost steam midway, losing 22-20, 14-21, 12-21 to the Korean pair of Na Eun Jeong and Chan Wang.
World No. 3 Lakshya then neutralized the Korean lead by beating Ji Hoon Choi 16-21, 21-18, 21-12 in the men singles.
Lakshya, who was erratic in the first game, settled into a nice rhythm and played strong, executing his shots powerfully to beat the Korean rather easily, especially winning the decider in quick time.
The Koreans went ahead once again through their men doubles pair of Tae Yag Shin and Chan Wang, who outlasted the Indian duo of Krishna Pasad Garaga and Dhruva Kapila 21-19, 19-21, 11-21 in another gruelling match.
With a 2-1 cushion, Ga Eun Park disposed of Malvika Bansod 21-17, 21-12 in 29 minutes to pull the curtains down on Indians.
Later India pulled off a 3-1 win over Denmark for 5th to 8th place play off with men's doubles pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Dhruv Kapila, mixed doubles combination of Srishti Jupudi and Srikrishna Sai Kumar Podile and men's singles player Kiran George registering wins.
Indian team will take on Malaysia on Saturday.
The individual tournaments will be held from November 11 to 15.
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