The Indian campaign came to a screeching halt at the $120, 000 Skycity New Zealand Open Grand Prix Gold in Auckland on Friday as none of the three doubles pairs managed to advance past the quarter-finals.
2010 Commonwealth Games women’s doubles gold medallists Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa fought hard in the first game but were edged 22-24 by the unseeded Australians Setyana Mapasa and Gronya Somerville. In the second game, the fourth seeds looked totally drained and could not put up any resistance at all as they slumped to a 22-24, 8-21 defeat in 33 minutes.
In men’s doubles, the sixth-seeded Indian duo of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy were completely outplayed by the second-seeded Koreans Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol 10-21. They rebounded well in the second game and played brilliantly but still went down in straight games – 10-21, 20-22 – in 27 minutes.
The unseeded mixed doubles combine of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy too had the same fate. Despite some impressive shotmaking, the Indians came up short against the second seeds Shin Baek Cheol and Chae Yoo Jung, 14-21, 18-21. The contest lasted 30 minutes.
The Indian shuttlers will next be seen in action at the India Open Superseries, beginning March 29.
