Badminton, Odisha Masters: Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila clinch mixed doubles title

The duo of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila clinched the mixed doubles title at the Odisha Masters 2023 at the JN Indoor Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.

In the first final of the day, Indian duo Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila were up against Singapore’s Hee Yong Kai Terry and Tan Wei Han Jessica. In the first game, the Indian pair started aggressively but the team from Singapore fought back hard to keep the scores tied.

At the interval, Hee Yong Kai Terry and Tan Wei Han Jessica took a 11-9 lead. With Crasto and Kapila finding their rhythm back, they brought the game to 16-16 before the pair from Singapore quickly took the lead putting the Indians on the back foot and closed the first game 21-17.

In the second game, both teams were involved in long rallies as the Indian duo took 11-9 lead at the interval. Crasto-Kapila marched ahead to a 15-11 lead before the won the second game 21-19 and taking the match into the decider.

In the final game, the Indian pair continued their momentum and started putting pressure on the Singaporeans. But the pair from Singapore fought their way back and took a 11-9 lead at the interval. After the change of sides, the Indian pair started dominating before winning the game 23-21 and clinching the mixed doubles title.

Meanwhile, in the women’s double final, the Indian duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto went down to Indonesian pair of Meilysa Trias Puspitasari and Rachel Allessya Rose by 21-14 and 21-17.

In the first game, both teams put their best foot forward with Crasto dominating at the net and Ponnappa showing her experience. The Indonesians put up a strong fight and at the interval, the score was 11-8 in favour of Indonesia. After the change of sides, the pair from Indonesia took a 19-15 lead and took the first game 21-14.

In the second game, the Indian duo started feeling the pressure following which they gave away points easily to the pair from Indonesia. Meilysa Trias Puspitasari and Rachel Allessya Rose took a 6-1 lead and put the Indian pair on back foot. At the interval, the score was 11-8 in favour of Indonesia, who went on to secure the game 21-17 to lift the title.

In the men’s singles final match, Satish Kumar Karunakaran defeated Ayush Shetty 21-18, 19-21, 21-14 to win the title. Coming into this tournament, Sathish had a good season with men’s singles title wins at India International and runner-up finish at Maldives International.

In the men’s double final, Lin Bing-Wei and Su Ching Heng of Chinese Taipei beat Krishna Prasad Garaga and Sai Pratheek K 22-20, 18-21 and 21-17. Meanwhile, in women’s single final, former World No 1 Nozomi Okuhara staged a solid comeback and beat Hong Kong China’s Lo Sin Yan to lift the title with a score of 21-7, 21-23, 22-20.