The men’s pairing of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila was the only bright spot as India suffered a 1-4 loss to Thailand in their group A opener, jeopardising the chances of qualifying for knockout stage of Sudirman Cup badminton here on Sunday.

With PV Sindhu and the men’s doubles duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy missing in action, the onus was on senior players such as Kidambi Srikanth and women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy to carry the team through.