The Indian women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto created a huge upset at the Malaysia Open 2024, on Thursday, when they beat the former World No. 1 Japanese pair of Wakana Nagahara and Matsumoto Mayu 21-19, 13-21, 21-15. The WR-24 Indian team has now made it to the quarters of the prestigious event, where they beat the USA pair of Allison Lee and Corbett 21-13, 21-16 in the first round.
The Indian and Japanese pairs were neck-to-neck in the first game till the scores reached 6-6, but thereafter the former picked up pace and got a lead of four points at 10-6. But there were a lot of twists and turns as the Japanese WR-9 team got back in the game at 16-16. But Tanisha and Ashwini found ways to close the game at 21-19.
The second game was a bit one-sided though, where the Indians could not play their natural attacking games, and made a few unforced errors. But the third game was a bit of a shocker. With scores locked at 9-9 at one point, the Indian pair brought its best game forward, and reduced the errors, to take the match at 21-15.
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This is a big win considering this is a Paris 2024 Olympics qualification year, and Tanisha & Ashwini are the WR-24 pair currently. If they can find a way to get into the top 15, they would be sure to book their tickets for the Olympics.
Earlier in the tournament, Kidambi Srikanth had upset Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in the first round of men’s singles. He will be up against Ka Long Angus of Chinese Taipei later in the day.
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