Horsens, Lakshya Sen fought hard but ultimately fell to world No. 7 Li Shi Feng in a three-game thriller, leaving India trailing 0-1 against China in their final Group A tie of the Thomas Cup Finals on Wednesday.
Lakshya, who had beaten Li en route to a runner-up finish at the All England Championships last month, could not replicate that form in the decider, losing 19-21 21-8 12-21.
India will now look to level the tie through the world No. 4 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who face world No. 5 duo Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.
Lakshya's match against Li was a closely contested affair, with the Indian initially lagging behind 3-6 before clawing back and edging ahead 14-13 in the first game.
However, the contest turned into a tight slugfest, with both players locked at 19-19 before Li produced two decisive points to take the opening game.
The second game was one-way traffic, with Lakshya racing to 5-0 and then 11-2, aided by a string of unforced errors from Li.
In the third game, Lakshya trailed 1-4 but recovered to 7-7, only to see Li regain control and eventually win the match with a clinical cross-court smash.
