Youngsters Anupama Upadhyaya and Satish Karunakaran gave a glimpse of India’s bench strength in the singles categories, leading from the front to help the team beat England 3-2 in their last Group D match in the BWF Sudirman Cup Finals 2025 in Xiamen, China on Thursday.
Having lost their first round matches, India were out of contention for the knockout stage and decided to field the young players against England. Former women’s singles national champion Anupama rose to the occasion and gave the team a winning start by beating Miu Ngan 21-16, 21-12.
Sathish then fought back from a game down against Harry Huang, winning 18-21, 22-20, 21-13 to give the team a 2-0 lead. The National Games gold medallist struggled to find his rhythm in the opening game and had to save a match point in the second before getting the better of World No. 95 Huang.
The women’s doubles combination of Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra wrapped up the tie for India with a 21-17, 21-17 win over Lizzie Tolman and Estelle van Leeuwen. England then clinched the men’s doubles and mixed doubles rubbers to give respectability to the score line.
Results:
India beat England 3-2 (Anupama Upadhyaya bt Miu Ngan 21-16, 21-12; Sathish Karunakaran bt Harry Huang 18-21, 22-20, 21-13; Tanisha Crasto/Shruti Mishra bt Lizzie Tolman/Estelle van Leeuwen 21-17, 21-17; Hariharan Amsakarunan/R Ruban Kumar lost to Rory Easton/Alex Green 14-21, 21-11, 13-21; Sathish Karunakaran/Adya Variyath lost to Callum Hemming/Estelle van Leeuwen 21-11, 13-21, 22-24.
(Via: BAI)