Badminton, Odisha Masters: Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto, Unnati Hooda progress to quarter-finals

Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, Unnati Hooda, Kiran George, Rutuparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda progressed to the next round of their respective events on Thursday, at the Odisha Masters Super 100 event in Bhubaneswar.

In the first high-octane clash of the day, Indian duo Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila were up against Indonesia’s Amri Syahnawi and Winny Oktavina Kandow in the Round of 16 mixed doubles match. The Indian pair showed aggression right from the first point and took a 7-3 lead.

The Indians closed down the first set with a game of 21-16. In the second game of the match, the Indian pair took a 13-4 lead and put their opponents on backfoot. The Indian pair entered the quarter-final as they won the match 21-16, 21-12.

Ashwini Ponnappa and Rohan Kapoor were up against Sumeeth Reddy and Sikki Reddy in their Round of 16 mixed doubles match. In a match that saw momentum swinging continuously, it was Sumeeth and Sikki who got the better of Ponnappa and Kapoor in the first game of the match with a score of 21-14.

At the beginning of the second game, Ponnappa and Kapoor started showing urgency and putting pressure on Sumeeth and Sikki. Ponnappa and Kapoor came out all guns blazing, galloping to 11-9 lead as both the teams were involved in fiercely-contested rallies multiple times at the interval. Ponnappa and Kapoor won the second game 21-17 to take the match in the decider.

In the decider, Ponnappa and Kapoor carried the momentum from the second game and took the lead early but Sumeeth-Sikki fought back to eventually close down the game with a score of 21-14.

In other matches, Unnati Hooda won her match against Ashmita Chaliha with a score of 21-18, 21-16 to advance to the next round. Rutuparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda won their women’s doubles match against Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker to make it to the quarter-final.

Former world No 1 Nozomo Okuhara won her match against Stephanie Widjaja with a score of 21-11 and 21-16. Chirag Sen won his match against Mads Christophersen with a score of 21-10, 15-21, 21-17.

In the women’s doubles category, the pair of Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto beat Arul Bala Radhakrishnan and Varshini Viswanath Sri 21-13, 21-13 to move to the next round.