London: Curtains fell on India's campaign in the men's doubles event of the World Badminton Championships after the pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas went down fighting in the second round here on Tuesday.
Rupesh and Sanave squandered a one-game lead to lose 19-21 21-11 21-12 in 48 minutes to eighth seeded Indonesian duo of Alvent Yulianto Chandra and Hendra Aprida Gunawan.
Rupesh and Sanave had earlier defeated the German combination of Michael Fuchs and Oliver Roth 9-21 21-18 21-17 in their tournament opener on Monday.
With Rupesh and Sanave's exit, the country's challenge came to an end in the men's doubles event as the other Indian pair in fray - Pranav Chopra and Tarun Kona had already crashed out in the first round, losing 17-21 13-21 to Hung Ling Chen and Yu Lang Lin of Chinese Taipei last night.
Against the higher-ranked Indonesian pair, Rupesh and Sanave started on a promising note, racing to a 4-1 and then 7-3 lead in the opening game, before Chandra and Gunawan pocketed three consecutive points to reduce the margin to 7-6.
From there on, it was a neck-and-neck fight between the two pairs till 19 points before the Indians stepped up the accelerator and pocketed two straight points to seal the opening game in their favour.
Stunned by the unseeded Indian duo's performance in the first game, Chandra and Gunawan came out all guns blazing in the next and in no time took a 9-2 lead. The Indonesian pair then enhanced their lead to 18-6 before drawing parity by pocketing the game 21-11.
After the initial burst, Rupesh and Sanave faded away as the Indonesian pair upped their game with every passing point and did not concede an inch to their rivals to win the decider 21-12 and book their place in the pre-quarterfinals.
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