England’s run at the Sudirman Cup ended at the group stage after a trio of tough tests against Indonesia, Denmark and India in Xiamen.
Drawn into Group D, England began their campaign with a 5-0 loss to Indonesia before falling to Denmark by the same scoreline.
England’s opening two defeats, combined with results elsewhere, meant that Indonesia and Denmark both progressed to the next round of the tournament.
This left England with a final fixture against India, where they battled to a narrow 3-2 defeat.
The opening fixture saw Rory Easton and Alex Green defeated 21-11 21-11 by two-time world bronze medallists Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto.
bbygael Harris and Lizzie Tolman then lost 21-8 21-13 to Febriana Dwipuji Kusuma and Amallia Cahaya Pratiwi before Nadeem Dalvi and Freya Redfearn lost their singles matches.
Indonesia rounded off with a 21-15 15-21 21-19 mixed doubles victory for Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari over Callum Hemming and Estelle van Leeuwen.
Denmark then repeated the feat to ensure their progression before England gained a foothold in the final fixture against Italy.
India took the first two matches after Anupama Upadhyaya overcame Kirby Ngan 21-12 21-16 in the women’s singles and Sathish Kumar Karunakaran beat Harry Huan 18-21 22-20 21-13 in the men’s singles.
The next encounter saw India clinch victory in the five-match tie after Lizzie Tolman and Estelle van Leeuwen fell to a close-fought 21-17 21-17 defeat to Shruti Mishra and Tanisha Crasto.
Facing the prospect of a third consecutive shutout, England rallied to hand India a first defeat of the day when Rory Easton and Alex Green outgunned Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi in the men’s doubles.
Easton and Green won the first game 21-14 and though they lost the second 21-11, the duo battled back to win the decider 21-13.
It was a similar story in the last match of the day, with the pair of Callum Hemming and Estelle van Leeuwen emerging victorious in the mixed doubles against Satish Kumar Karunakaran and Crasto.
Despite falling in the first game 21-11, Hemming and Van Leeuwen roared back to win the second 21-13 before clinching the decider 24-22.
Image credit: Yohan Nonotte/BadmintonPhoto
