India go down to Malaysia at BWF World Junior Mixed Team Championships 2022
In the playoff for spots 9–16 at the 2022 World Junior Mixed Team Badminton Championships in Santander, Spain, the Indian team fell to Malaysia 3-1. India's match versus Malaysia got off to a bad start as Ayush Shetty lost to Justin Hoh in the men's singles 21-6, 12-21, 19-21, in three games.
Anupama Upadhyay, the junior world no. 3 who took Unnati Hooda's position and played her first match of the competition, defeated Siti Nurshuhaini in the women's singles 21-14, 21-15 to even the score. However, India's victory turned out to be the match's sole high point.
Nicholas Raj and Tushar Suveer, the men's doubles team, were defeated by Fazriq Mohamad Razif and Wong Vin Sean 21-9, 21-7. In the women's doubles, Ong Xin Yee and Carmen Ting defeated Isharani Baruah and Devika Sihag 21-10, 14-21, 21-13 to win the match for Malaysia.
On Friday, India will now play Germany, while Malaysia will play Canada, which defeated Germany in the other quarterfinal for spots 9 through 16. India will participate in the 13–14 playoff round if they can defeat Germany. India will compete in the playoff for positions 15–16 if they lose.
The Indian team placed 12th in 2019 and was aiming to better that record this time around, but will now have to make do with a spot between 13 and 16. In the 2008 competition, India's fourth-place result was their best performance.