India's doubles pairs in badminton finished their Olympic campaign on Saturday in contrasting styles. The women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered their third successive loss while the men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy won their final group game. Both the pairs had failed to qualify for the next stage after losing their first two group games earlier.
Against the Thai pair of Supajirakul Puttita and Taerattanachai Sapsiree, Gutta and Ponnappa took a 10-5 lead in the first set but allowed their opponents to come back and win 21-17. Puttita and Sapsiree were much more dominant in the second set, racing to a 11-5 lead before winning the second set 21-15.
In the men's doubles event though, Attri and Reddy exited the Olympics with some measure of pride, recording a comfortable 23-21 21-11 victory in their final group game against Japan's Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa. After a tough first set, the Indian pair won the second set comfortably and ensured that they finished their campaign on a successful note.
