Aichi-Nagoya, Sept 24:

India’s men’s badminton team suffered a 3-1 defeat to China in the Asian Games semi-final, ending its hopes of reaching the final in the team competition.

Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty gave India an important win by defeating world champions Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang. However, the singles matches went China’s way, with Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty unable to overcome Shi Yuqi and Li Shifeng respectively.

The result means India will have to settle for a medal playoff after falling short against one of the tournament’s strongest badminton nations. The contest also highlighted the physical demands of a compressed Asian Games schedule.

India had entered the semi-final after a convincing 3-0 victory over Japan, with Lakshya producing a notable comeback in his singles match.