The Indian pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnu Vardhan Goud let slip a strong start to go down fighting to England’s world No 8 pairing of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in the men’s doubles finals of the Orleans Masters badminton tournament on Sunday.
The unheralded Indians, the only ones left in contention from the country on the final day, lost 21-19, 14-21, 19-21 in a 56-minute battle with the fourth seeds.
The Indian pair started out well taking an 11-6 lead in the first game which they won despite a late fightback from the English pair.
However, Lane and Vendy took confidence from the late surge in the first game into the second one and dominated from the start. The Indians showed resistance in the end but went down 14-21 in the second game.
The decider was a nail-biting affair with the English pair just edging ahead at the interval taking an 11-8 lead. However, the Indian made a comeback to lead 14-13. In the end, Lane and Vendy held their nerves better to clinch the thrilling contest.
Krishna and Vishnu had paired for the first time in this event and would be pleased with the results they managed.
Krishna had earlier paired with Shlok Ramchandran, while for the 20-year-old Vishnu, it’s his first international tournament at the senior level.
On Saturday, Saina Nehwal bowed out in straight games in the women’s singles semi-finals to end India’s singles challenge at the tournament. Saina lost 17-21, 17-21 to Denmark’s Line Christophersen in her semi-final clash.
With PTI inputs