The Indian badminton women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, on Saturday, advanced to the final of the 2023 Syed Modi India International Challenge Super 300 in Lucknow.

The seventh seeded Indian pair reached the final after their opponents and top seeds Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota retired mid-way from the match with an injury.

Ponnappa and Crasto were trailing 10-11 when Hirota slipped and fell on the court, injuring her left knee. The Japanese was later carried to the sidelines and attended by a physio before the pair decided to pull out of the contest.

Ponnappa and Crasto will now take on Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan in the final on Sunday.

Priyanshu Rajawat bows out

Earlier in the day, Priyanshu Rajawat bowed out of the men’s singles competition following a hard fought loss to a lower-ranked Chi Yu Jen in a battle which lasted 74 minutes.

There was nothing to separate the two players in the early exchanges of the match, but Rajawat soon found himself trailing 11-15 in the first game.

But with the home crowd right behind him, the world No. 31 won six points in a row before pocketing the first game 21-18.

The 21-year-old, however, soon found himself struggling as the Chinese Taipei shuttler kept drawing errors from akward angles to win the second game 21-14.

There was no coming back from that point as errors overflowed from Rajawat’s end and he trailed 14-20 in the decider.

The Indian did manage to save three match points, but eventually surrendered 17-21 to crash out after leading the first game.