SINGAPORE ended 16th in the Sudirman Cup mixed-team badminton championships, after being edged out 3-2 by France in the play-offs in Dongguan, China on Thursday night.

The result was a big drop from joint ninth in the previous edition of the biennial tournament.

Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Vanessa Neo lost 12-21, 19-21 in half an hour to Ronan Labar and Emilie Lefel in the mixed doubles, before France doubled their lead when Thomas Rouxel beat Sean Lee 16-21 24-22 21-17.

Singapore fought back as Terry Hee and Chayut Triyachart beat Baptiste Careme and Labar 21-19, 21-14 in just 26 minutes in the men's doubles, and levelled the tie at 2-2 when Liang Xiaoyu beat Delphine Lansac 21-11, 21-14 in 29 minutes in the women's singles.

Women's doubles players Elaine Chua and Neo then took the first game 22-20 against Lefel and Anne Tran but lost the second 16-21 and the rubber game 12-21.

Earlier in the Level 2 Group A competition, Singapore had beaten both Spain and Canada 3-2 and lost 1-4 to the Netherlands to finish second.