- Wednesday, March 05, 2025
Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto suffered the second consecutive group stage defeat and are staring at an early exit
By: Shajil Kumar
INDIA’S Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto are staring at an early exit after their second consecutive group stage defeat in the women’s doubles badminton competition at the Paris Olympic here on Monday.
The Indians went down 11-21 12-21 to the world number four Japanese duo of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida in the 48-minute Group C match.
The Indians had lost their opener against South Korea’s Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong.
Ponnappa and Crasto, world number 19, are currently ranked third in their group behind the Japanese and the South Koreans.
The two top-ranked pairs from each group qualify for the quarterfinals.
Ponnappa and Crasto will take on Australia’s Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu in their final group game.
The Indians were not able to apply any scoreboard pressure on their opponents as they never managed to take the lead or even draw parity.
The Japanese duo, on the other hand, took control of the match from the onset, racing to a 4-0 lead after Crasto netted a long rally.
The seasoned Ponnappa produced a smash to earn India’s first point with Crasto following suit with a body smash to make it 2-7.
But it was mostly one-way traffic from there as the Japanese kept inflating their lead to take the game.
The Indians were put under pressure right from the start in the second game as the Japanese raced to a 7-1 lead.
To make matters worse for the Indians, Carsto injured her finger and required medical attention.
Crasto and Ponnappa then fetched three back-to-back points but the Japanese squashed the Indians’ momentum and in the end had nine match points.
Tennis campaign ends
The tennis campaign at the Paris Olympics lasted only a day as Sumit Nagal and the men’s doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and N Sriram Balaji bowed out after losing their respective opening matches to French challengers, on Sunday.
Nagal was first to take court, but his strong baseline game didn’t seem to be enough against mercurial Corentin Moutet, who earned a stylish three-set win.
In his second appearance at the Olympic Games, Nagal bounced back after losing the first set but fell 2-6 6-4 5-7 in two hours and 28 minutes at a packed court seven at the Roland Garros.
In the Tokyo Games, Nagal had lost in the second round to Russian Daniil Medvedev but could not make the most of a manageable opener today.
He was up 2-0 in the decider with an early break but allowed Moutet to claw his way back and win.
Later in the day, Bopanna and Balaji went down fighting 5-7 2-6 against Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Gael Monfils, who replaced injured Fabien Reboul in the home team at the last minute.
India have won only one Olympic medal in tennis, when Leander Paes bagged a bronze in the 1996 Atlanata Games.
Monfils’ big-hitting helped the home team that was egged on by the partisan crowd.
It was probably the last time Bopanna represented India in a multi-sport event. The 44-year-old has already announced his retirement from Davis Cup.
The doubles match featured several fiery baseline exchanges between Bopanna and both the French players. (PTI)
