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The Indian women's doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa will be in action in the final of their category during the ongoing Syed Modi International badminton tournament in Lucknow on Sunday.
The seventh-seeded Crasto-Ponnappa beat compatriots Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand to make it to the quarters. In the semifinals, they had a much tougher challenge in the form of Japanese top seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota. Both sides started off the game with high intensity and Japan was getting better of India by 11-10 in the first game. It was when Hirota fell on court after injuring her knee. The shuttler did receive medical attention but could not continue. Hence, they withdrew from the match and the spot in the final was earned by the Indians. In the title clash, Crasto-Ponnappa will be taking on another Japanese duo, Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi. Iwanaga-Nakanishi had beat Australia's Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu to make it to the final of the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) Super 300 tournament. On the other hand, India's campaign in the singles competition ended with world number 31 men's shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat succumbing to a 21-18, 14-21, 17-21 defeat to Chi Yu Jen. Rajawat showed some great character, taking the first game after a fight from his opponent. But the 48th-ranked Jen got better of the Indian in the next two games and entered the final after a 71-minute-long affair. The results of this tournament will count towards players' qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics and will conclude today. (ANI)
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