Misery continued for the Indian badminton doubles pairs at Rio 2016 as both the women’s team of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, and men’s duo of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy lost their respective group matches on Friday to bow out of the competition.
It was a heartbreaking defeat for former World Championship bronze medalists Gutta and Ponnappa. They gave the World No. 11 Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek a scare before succumbing to a 16-21, 21-16 17-21 defeat in their Group A encounter.
After losing to Japan on Thursday, the Indians gave a much better account of themselves in this clash, especially the manner in which they fought back to level the tie. With a barrage of smashes from Gutta at the net and some stunning defence from Ponnappa at the back court, the World No. 22 combine kept the pressure on their opponents. The second game remained close till 16-15 after which the Indians clinched the set.
The third game remained competitive in the initial stages. Tied at 8-8, the European Championships runners-up started prolonging the rallies to tire out the Indians. It paid rich dividends as the errors from the Indian team increased. Gutta and Ponnappa tried to mount a late comeback at 15-16 but the Dutchwomen closed out the game in 58 minutes.
With two defeats, the former Commonwealth Games champions are now lying in third place in the group standings right above the Thai duo of Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai.