India 15th despite loss

Bangalore, May 16: India, despite its loss to Ukraine in the play-off tie for a place in Group-II, improved its overall ranking from 19 to 15 in the Sudirman Cup badminton championships which concluded at Copenhagen yesterday.According to information received at the Badminton Association of India here, Ukraine beat India 4-1. India8217;s lone victory came in the men8217;s singles with Paulella Gopichand beating Dmitry Miznikov 15-3, 15-1.

In the women8217;s section, Aparna Popat lost to her tough opponent Elena Nozdran ranked 35th in the world 9-11, 11-9, 5-11. Aparna, inspite of taking a 5-0 lead in the first game, eventually lost it 9-11. Aparna rallied brilliantly to win the second game to take the match to the decider.

However, in the decider, the much fitter Elena won comfortably 11-5. In the exciting tie, Gopi Chand and Vincent Lobo went down fighting to Druzchenkov and Tatranov 15-12, 13-15, 12-15. After taking the first game, Indians could not maintain the same tempo and lost the next two games narrowly.