A young but talented Indian women’s team put up a solid effort before going down 2-3 against hosts Malaysia in their opening match of the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Shah Alam on Wednesday.

Ashmita Chaliha and Tara Shah notched up convincing wins but Aakarshi Kashyap and the two inexperienced doubles pairs couldn’t cross the finish line.

With the in-form Malvika Bansod pulling out at the last minute due to health issues as per Press Trust of India, world No. 56 Aakarshi Kashyap, who had reached the semifinals of India Open, started the proceedings. But the 20-year-old couldn’t get past 64th ranked Kisona Selvaduray, losing 16-21 21-18 16-21 in an hour and 12 minutes in the opening match. She fought back brilliantly in the second game, winning six straight points from 15-18 down to force the decider. Even in the third game, she led 11-9 at the final change of ends. But Selvaduray, a much more experienced shuttler even if ranked a tad bit below Kashyap due to lack of action in recent times, showed her class in the final stages. The home shuttler capitalised on the errors from the Indian.

Khushi Gupta and Mehreen Riza were then no match in the first doubles tie, losing 1-21 6-21 against the Malaysian combination of Valeree Siow and Pearly Tan to make it 2-0 in the home team’s favour.

Assam’s Ashmita Chaliha then dished out a superb show to see off 17-year-old Siti Nurshuhaini 21-11 21-19 in 29 minutes to bring India back into the contest. The Malaysian teenager had impressed in her team’s comeback win against Japan earlier.

However, Arul Bala Radhakrishnan and Nila Valluvan proved no match for Syed Modi Super 300 champions Anna Ching Yik Cheong and Teoh Mei Xing, losing 10-21 12-21 as Malaysia took an unassailable 3-1 lead.

Finally however Tara Shah, who had claimed the Hungarian International Junior Championships in 2020 and had reached the finals of U-15 Asia Junior Championships in 2019, beat Myisha Mohd Khairul 21-16 21-15 to make it 2-3 in the end. The 16-year-old is considered to be one of the brightest young talents in India and she showed glimpses of why.

The Indian women’s team will take on defending champions Japan in group Y on Friday. But the Japan team is not first choice and have already lost against Malaysia 2-3. So it will be a fascinating battle and India will need their singles players to step up once again to qualify for knockouts.

The men’s team, led by world championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen, had also lost its opening match 0-5 against Korea on Monday. They will face Hong Kong on Thursday.

With PTI inputs