Kunshan: The Indian women's team qualified for the Uber Cup badminton tournament quarter finals despite suffering a narrow 2-3 loss to powerhouse Japan in its third and final Group D match here on Wednesday.

The men's team, however, continued its dismal run in the Thomas Cup and crashed out after being blanked 0-5 by Indonesia in its third match of Group B at the Kunshan Sports Center Stadium.

The men's team had lost to Thailand and Hong Kong in its last two outings and will return winless from China.

In the Uber Cup, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu notched up straight-game victories in the first two singles, but the rest could not win the two doubles and third singles ties to go down fighting to 2014 finalists Japan.

Olympic bronze medallist Saina defeated world No. 5 Nozomi Okuhara 21-18, 21-6 to avenge her only loss to the Japanese at the Dubai World Superseries Finals last year and give her team a 1-0 lead. The 26-year-old from Hyderabad fought back from 3-7 and 15-18 down to pocket the first game and then dished out a dominating game to zoom past Okuhara in the second to complete the victory in 38 minutes.

In the second singles, two-time World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu notched up a 21-11, 21-18 win over World No. 11 Akane Yamaguchi in a 36-minute clash to guide India to a 2-0 lead.

However, Jwala Gutta combined with N Sikki Reddy to take on the formidable World No. 1 pair of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi and went down 11-21, 8-21 without a fight within half an hour in the first women's doubles.

In the decider, Ashwini Ponnappa paired up with Sindhu, but their gallant fight ended with a 21-15, 19-21, 16-21 loss to Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito.

However, India still qualified for the knockout stage as they are placed second behind Japan in Group D after winning against Australia and Germany. The top two teams in each group make it to the knock-out stage. (PTI)