Sai Praneeth was the lone Indian to post a win against France. File photo: PTIBangkok: India's young but depleted men and women's teams jeopardised their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage after suffering an identical 1-4 loss to France and Canada in the opening Group A match of the Thomas and Uber Cups finals here on Sunday.
The Indian men's team paid the price for not fielding world No. 9 H S Prannoy and the doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, as the young and inexperienced team proved no match for their French counterparts, who were ranked lower.
World No. 18 B Sai Praneeth gave India a positive start, defeating France's Brice Leverdez 21-7, 21-18 to take a 1-0 lead, but none of the other players could step up when it mattered.
In the second match, world No. 38 Arjun M R and Ramchandran Shlok wilted under pressure, losing 13-21, 16-21 to Bastian Kersaudy and Julien Maio, ranked 47th.
Swiss Open champion Sameer Verma, ranked 21, went down 18-21, 22-20, 18-21 to Lucas Corvee, ranked 43rd, in the second singles as France grabbed a 2-1 lead.
World No. 70 Arun George and Sanyam Shukla then took the field in the second doubles match but they were no match for Thom Gicquel and Ronan Labar, losing 10-21, 12-21 in a 28-minute duel.
Lakshya Sen then fought hard before losing 20-22, 21-19, 19-21 to Toma Junior Popov in the third singles.
India next face Australia on Monday.
Saina disappoints
India are without the services of Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy in the Uber Cup. The Indians are heavily dependent on Saina Nehwal to guide the team, which had won bronze in the last two editions.
However, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Saina went down 21-15, 16-21, 16-21 to Michelle Li in the first match, to hand over a 1-0 lead to Canada.
Young Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka then lost 11-21, 13-21 to Rachel Honderich as Canada doubled their advantage.
The doubles pair of Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram, ranked 41, gave India a glimmer of hope as they beat Michelle Tong and Josephine Wu 21-19, 21-15 in 27 minutes, but Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli failed to get it across Brittney Tam, losing 11-21, 15-21, as Canada took an unassailable 3-1 lead.
In the fifth and final match, Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant lost 15-21, 16-21 to Rachel Honderich and Kristen Tsai.
The women's team also plays Australia next.
