Dubai-born Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa clinched their second Super 100 level title of the year as they packed off Chinese Taipei’s Sung Shuo Yun and Yu Chien Hui 21-13, 21-19 in the women’s doubles final of the Yonex-Sunrise Guwahati Masters badminton tournament in Guwahati, India, on Sunday.
Tanisha, 20, who started her badminton career in Dubai, moved to India six years ago.
The former Indian High School (Dubai) is now one of India’s elite shuttlers, who also represented India at the Asian Games earlier this year.
On Sunday, Tanisha and her partner, who had finished runners-up in the Syed Modi International Super 300 event last week, began the final with an aggressive intent.
It looked like Ashwini and Tanisha could race through the match when they opened up a 12-6 lead in the second game. But the Taipei pair clinched five straight points to close the gap to just one point and the Indians faced a few nervy moments thereafter.
To their credit, Ashwini and Tanisha did not lose patience and were prepared to wait for their opportunities. Tanisha found a winner with a smart net push to warn them a match point and the Abu Dhabi Masters champions wrapped things up on the very first opportunity.
Later speaking about the match, Ashwini admitted that the drift did affect when they tried to push the shuttle to the back court. “There were some nervous moments but it was the support of the crowd that egged up on and I am happy that we handled the pressure well.”
The pair will now head to Bhubaneshwar for the Odisha Masters, hoping to consolidate their position in the world ranking with another strong showing to end the year on a high.