India’s Badminton Mixed team pair of Pramod Bhagat and Palak Kohli lost in a fairly competitive match against the French mixed duo of Lucas Mazur and Faustine Noel in the opening match of Group B of the SL3-SU5 class badminton event today. The French mixed duo was seeded second in the tournament. The Indian mixed duo went down 9-21 21-15 19-21 to the French team in 43 minutes at the Yoyogi Stadium.
The Indian mixed duo found themselves behind in the first set itself with the points being 5-11 at the interval but even after that, there was no breather as the French duo conceded only a few points and cantered towards winning the first set. The Indian duo was much better during the second set but they still had to compete in a “tooth and nail” situation to acquire a slender two-point lead with the score being 13-11.
The team of Mazur and Noel did manage to earn a few points but the Indian duo got seven straight points to make the match level at 1-1 and take it to the final set.
The final set was a close one with both teams fighting for being the victor. The second seed duo initially opened a lead of 9-13 points but the Indian duo didn’t stay behind for long as they came back with a roar to earn a slender one-point lead with the scores being 15-14 at the halfway point of the set. However, the French duo of Mazur and Noel managed to get the lead in the final set and did not give it up as they narrowly beat the India team 19-21 to get set and match points.
The other duo the Indian team will face is the Thai representation of Siripong Teamarrom and Saensupa Nipada who are the only other team in the group. The Indian mixed duo has to win against them to progress towards the knockout rounds.
Pramod Bhagat will also compete in the SL3 singles event and is the reigning world champion while Kohli will tag along with Parul Parmar in women’s doubles (SL3-SU5) and will compete in the SU5 singles event.
