How Indian badminton slid from Olympic medals to crushing defeats

The Indian badminton team is off to a forgettable start at the Sudirman Cup, suffering a 1-4 defeat at the hands of Denmark in their opening Group D clash on Sunday with the women’s doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Shruti Mishra helping their team avoid a 0-5 rout with a victory in straight games.

With badminton powerhouse Indonesia, who completed a clean sweep over England on Sunday, also placed in the same group, India’s chances of advancing to the quarter-finals of the event in China’s Xiamen were slim from the very beginning