The Indian women’s badminton team lost 0-5 to China in their last round robin match of the Uber Cup on Tuesday, in Chengdu, China, to finish as Group A runners-up with the hosts taking the top spot.
Both teams had already qualified for the quarter-final stage of the contest, but the tie on Tuesday would decide which team would win.
China, fielding a strong team was a clear favourite going into the tie against an inexperienced Indian team that lacked the services of star players PV Sindhu and top doubles teams of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa, and Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly.
Reigning Olympic champion Chen Yufei made quick-work of Isharani Baruah, clinching the first match 21-12, 21-10 in 33 minutes.
In the second match, Priya Konjengbam and Shruti Mishra were handed a 13-21, 12-21 defeat by world No 1 pair Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan in a match that lasted 45 minutes.
Rising star Anmol Kharb, who had played an important role in the Indian women’s team winning a first Badminton Asia Championship title earlier this year, suffered an ankle injury during her match against world No 7 Han Yue and had to retire to give China an unassailable 3-0 lead in the tie.
Kharb had been trailing 9-21, 1-4 when she withdrew from the match.
Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker lost the fourth match 9-21, 10-21 to world No 3 team Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning.
China then completed the clean sweep when world No 8 came up with a 21-7, 21-16 win in 26 minutes over 15-year-old Tanvi Sharma.