Sudirman Cup 2025: Sindhu, Prannoy Fall In Straight Games As Ruthless Denmark Crush India 4-1

India made a shaky start to their Sudirman Cup 2025 campaign on the opening day of the World Mixed Team Championships in Xiamen, China, as they were crushed by Denmark 1-4.

India, playing without their top men's and women's doubles pairings of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, fell to the runners-up of the 1999 edition.

Barring Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra, none of the Indians could fetch a win.

India lost four matches in a row before Tanisha and Shruti could pull off a consolation victory by registering a thumping straight-games (21-13, 21-14) win over Natasja Anthonisen and Alexandra Boje in the dead rubber.

India were never in contention in the tie, slipping to defeats in the first three matches. The Danes, who have reached the semifinals nine times at the Sudirman Cup, started aggressively by overcoming Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha in the mixed doubles match.

Jesper Toft and Amalie Magelund took an early lead in the first game and forced the Indians into multiple errors before winning the opener 21-13.

In the second game, Dhruv and Tanisha managed a 4-3 lead, but Toft and Magelund allowed them only two more points out of the next 13. The Danes were quite comfortable even though Tanisha played some crisp shots late in the match. Toft and Magelund closed out the match by winning the second game 21-14.

In the second match, HS Prannoy, playing after three back-to-back first-round exits on the World Tour, showed early promise against World No. 3 Anders Antonsen as he commanded both games till the interval but lost tempo thereafter and suffered a 15-21, 16-21 defeat. Antonsen managed to get the better of Prannoy whenever the Indian showed signs of pressure.

Trailing 0-2 in the tie meant India needed to avoid a defeat in the third match, but facing the World No. 1 pair Kim Astrup and Anders Rasmussen was too heavy a task for youngsters Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi. The Indians were no match for Astrup and Rasmussen - the winners of season ending World Tour Finals in December - as they could take only 11 points in the whole match, losing 7-21, 4-21.

When it was hoped PV Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medallist, would help India reduce the margin of defeat, she went down to a spirited Line Kjaersfeldt in straight games after an intense fight. Sindhu lost the match 20-22, 21-23.

Placed in Group D, India's campaign will get tougher from here, as they are set to face mighty Indonesia, the winners of the inaugural edition of the tournament, on April 29 and England on May 1.

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