Jwala-Ashwini lose in Germany

Dutch pair of Samantha Barning and Iris Tabeling defeated the second seeds 23-21, 13-21, 26-24 in a hotly contested 51-minute encounter at the Saarlandhalle Saarbrucken.

This was Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa's first loss to the Dutch girls in three outings.

Top Indian women’s doubles shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered a second round loss at the $120,000 Bitburger Open Grand Prix Gold here on Thursday.

Dutch pair of Samantha Barning and Iris Tabeling defeated the second seeds 23-21, 13-21, 26-24 in a hotly contested 51-minute encounter at the Saarlandhalle Saarbrucken. This was World No.11 Jwala and Ashwini’s first loss to the World No.34 Dutch girls in three outings.

The Indian pair had received a first round bye.

Meanwhile, compatriot B. Sai Praneeth earned another straight games victory to enter the men’s singles third round late on Wednesday evening. The 16th seed needed only 46 minutes to beat Indonesia’s Andre Kurniawan Tedjono 24-22, 21-17 in the second round played to level their career record at 1-1.

The Hyderabadi will next take on English fifth seed Rajiv Ouseph for a place in the quarter-finals. This will be their first match.