Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto reached third final in as many events with a straight-games win in the Odisha Masters semifinal on Saturday.
Third-seeded pair of Ashwini and Tanisha, who finished runner-up at Syed Modi International before winning Guwahati Masters last week, defeated the Indonesian duo of Arlya Nabila Thesa Munggaran and Agnia Sri Rahayu 21-17, 21-13 in 37 minutes. The in-form local pair will be up against another Indonesian duo - Meilysa Trias Puspitasari and Rachel Allessya Rose - in the summit clash of the BWF Tour Super 100 event.
Earlier in the day, Crasto and Dhruv Kapila claimed a 21-14, 21-14 win over Denmark’s third seed Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch in the mixed doubles semifinal.
World Junior championships bronze medallist Ayush Shetty edged out Indonesia’s Alwi Farhan in a thrilling three-game match to set up an all-Indian men’s singles final against Sathish Kumar Karunakaran.
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Ayush had lost to Farhan in the semifinals of the World Junior Championships to settle for a bronze in Spokane, US. However, in Cuttack, the 18-year-old from Karnataka rallied his way to a 19-21, 21-14, 22-20 win to avenge the loss and enter his maiden Super 100 final.
Sathish will also be playing his first Super 100 final of his international career. He entered the summit clash after beating fellow Indian and defending champion Kiran George 18-21, 14-21 in a 41-minute semifinal.
In a 73-minute battle, Ayush, who hails from Sanoor near Karkala in Karnataka, showed his grit as he recovered from a game down to outwit his Indonesian opponent.
The Indian made a good start and held leads of 2-0, 7-4 but Farhan kept himself in the hunt and turned the tables after the interval. He took a 14-12 advantage and then reeled off three more points to eke out a 17-14 lead.
The Indonesian had four game points but Ayush managed to save three of them before Farhan prevailed.
After the change of sides, Farhan marched ahead to a 8-5 lead but Ayush never stopped fighting. He recovered to 10-8 with five straight points and then held on to roar back into the contest.
Things were looking bleak for Ayush in the decider when Farhan grabbed a 13-9 advantage at one stage. But the Indian showed great composure to slowly make his way to 19-19 and 20-20 then nosed ahead.
After regularly playing in junior state and national junior-level tournaments, Ayush finally won his first title at the 2022 All India Junior ranking event in Bangalore.
The 22-year-old Sathish, on the other hand, had a good season with men’s singles title wins at India International and runner-up finish at Maldives International. He also won the mixed doubles titles with partner Aadya Variyath at the Maldives International and finished second best at Malaysia.
Krishna Prasad Garaga and K. Sai Pratheek, sixth seeds, defeated eighth-seeded Indonesian pair of Teges Satriaji Cahyo Hutomo and Christopher David Wijaya 21-17, 17-21, 21-18 to reach the men’s doubles final.
India’s challenge in women’s singles ended with Unnati Hooda losing 21-16, 21-5 to former world champion Nozomi Okuhara in a 31-minute semifinal.
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