BWF Guwahati Masters: Ashwini and Tanisha steal the show; Malvika loses in singles semifinals

On a day when Indians in other categories bowed out in the last four clashes, the duo of Ashwini and Tanisha brought joy to a sparse gathering with an entertaining display.

Guwahati/Assam: Ashwini Ponnapa and Tanisha Crasto in action during the Guwahati Masters | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR/ THE HINDU

The Indian women’s doubles combination of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto put up a spectacular performance to outwit the third seeded Dutch pair of Debora Jille and Cheryl Seinen 21-12, 21-12 to enter the final of the Yonex-Sunrise Guwahati Masters BWF Super 100 International badminton tournament here on Saturday. 

On a day when Indians in other categories—Malvika Bansod (women’s singles), Amsakarunan Hariharan and Ruban Kumar (men’s doubles), Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto (mixed doubles)--bowed out in the last four clashes, the duo of Ashwini and Tanisha brought joy to a sparse gathering with an entertaining display. 

There is something exciting about the way Ashwini (34 years of age) and Tanisha (20) compete and complement each other on court: Ashwini is graceful with measured movements while Tanisha is lively and aggressive at the net with full zest. The Indian pair will be the favourite when it takes on Sung Shuo Yun and Yu Chien Hui of Chinese Taipei in the final on Sunday. The Taipei duo had a facile 21-15, 21-19 victory over Setyana Mapasa and Angela Yu of Australia in the other women’s doubles semifinal.

Malvika’s defeat was rather tame. She was passive and didn’t at any point of time force the pace of the match against Lalinrat Chaiwan of Thailand. The match was slow paced with each waiting for the other to make mistakes. Lalinrat executed some delectable crosscourt drops much to the dismay of the Indian. Moreover, Malvika made lots of unforced errors in both the sets and didn’t appear like she would make a match of it.

The results (Semifinals):

Men: singles: Yohanes Saut Marcellyno (Ina) bt Cheam June Wei Wei 21-10, 21-19; Alvi Wijaya Chairulah (Ina) bt Justin Hoh (MAS) 21-12, 11-2 (retd.); doubles: Lin Bing-Wei & Su Cheng Heng (Tpe) bt Amsakarunan Hariharan & Ruban Kumar Rethina Sabapathi 21-10, 21-19; Choong Hon Jian & Haikal Muhammad bt Boon Xin Yuan & Goh V Shem 21-18, 21-17.

Women: singles: Lalinrat Chaiwan (Tha) bt Malvika Bansod 21-12, 21-14; Line Christophersen (Den) bt Wen Chi Hsu (Tpe) 21-15, 12-21, 21-17; doubles: Ashwini Ponnappa & Tanisha Crasto bt Debera Jille & Cheryl Seinen (Ned) 21-12, 21-12; Sung Shuo Yun & Yu Chien Hui (Tpe) bt Setyana Mapasa & Angela Yu (Aus) 21-15, 21-19.

Mixed doubles: Hee Yong Kai Terry & Tan Wei Han Jessica (Sin) bt Dhruv Kapila & Tanisha Crasto 21-18, 21-15; Mads Vestergaard & Christina Busch (Den) bt Choong Hon Jian & Go Pei Kee (MAS) 21-16, 12-21, 21-17.