Indian badminton pairs crash out of Rio 2016

Sport360 staff 08:47 13/08/2016
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  • Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy

    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.

    Gutta and Ponnappa will look to salvage some pride when they square off against the Thai team on Saturday.

    The men’s doubles pair of Attri and Reddy could not do anything to brighten up the mood of the Indian contingent and went down 13-21, 15-21 to the World No. 5 pair of Chai Biao and Hong Wei of China. They had a positive start, though, and did a commendable job of keeping the former India Open champions in check till 10-11.

    But after the break, the scene changed completely with the Chinese pair injecting more pace and aggression to race ahead to 19-11. Attri and Reddy managed to win just two more points after that as Chai Biao and Hong Wei pocketed the opener.

    The Indians once again kicked off proceedings in the second game and took a 3-0 lead. The unfazed Chinese, however, made sure that their joy was short-lived and took complete control of the game from 11-9.

    They surged ahead to 17-12 and it was only a matter of time before they wrapped up the match.

    Currently languishing in last spot, the Indians will look to give their very best when they take on the group toppers and World No. 8 Japanese team of Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa on Saturday.

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