Ponnappa-Crasto lose to Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida, stare at early exit
Paris: India’s Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto are staring at an early exit after suffering 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 apple 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.
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