Badminton: Kuhoo-Dhruv pair wins Egypt International mixed doubles title

The unseeded Garg and Rawat held their nerves for a tight 21-16, 22-20 victory over the third seeds Utkarsh Arora and Karishma Wadkar in an all-Indian final.

Garg and Rawat showed excellent understanding throughout the tournament. (Representative Image)

Kuhoo Garg and Dhruv Rawat put up a brilliant effort to win the mixed doubles title at the Egypt International 2019 in Cairo on Sunday.

The unseeded Garg and Rawat held their nerves for a tight 21-16, 22-20 victory over the third seeds Utkarsh Arora and Karishma Wadkar in an all-Indian final.

Garg and Rawat showed excellent understanding as they had accounted for the second seeds Ahmed Salah and Hadia Hosny 21-16, 21-15 of Egypt in the second round and then followed it up with a comeback 16-21, 21-16, 21-9 win over fourth seeds Koceila Mammeri and Linda Mazri of Algeria in the semifinals.

Garg, however, failed to have double delight as she later went down in the women’s doubles final with Sanyogita Ghorpade.

The two gave their all before bowing out narrowly, 16-21 21-19 19-21 to third seeds Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker.

Meanwhile, at the Dubai International Challenge, Rituparna Das succumbed to a 21-23, 17-21 defeat in 36 minutes to Japan’s World No. 208 Mako Urushizaki. The World No. 144 was looking for her first BWF title of the year.