Gondomar: The Indian men and women failed to deliver when it mattered most, losing to Slovenia and Romania respectively in the pre-quarterfinals of the Olympic qualifying team event to significantly reduce their chances qualifying for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
While the 17th seeded women played their hearts before losing to fifth seeds Romania 2-3, the men disappointed with their 1-3 defeat against Slovenia.
While the 17th seeded women played their hearts before losing to fifth seeds Romania 2-3, the men disappointed with their 1-3 defeat against Slovenia.
The fifth-seeded men's team comprising G Sathiyan (world rank 30) and veteran Sharath Kamal (WR 33) was expected to get the better of 11th seeded Slovenia.
After winning the opening doubles, Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai and Sharath came a cropper in the singles, severely denting the chances of team qualification at the Olympics.
A quarter-final finish would have guaranteed an Olympic berth but now, both the men and women's squad have to win the plate division to qualify. All losers in the round of 16 will take part in the knock-out plate event.
World number 40 Darko Jorkic beat both Sathiyan (11-9, 12-10, 11-3) and Sharath (10-12, 11, 12-10, 11-8) to give Slovenia a memorable victory.
The Indian women's team played really well to take Romania to the distance before running out of steam
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