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Journalism of Courage
As things stand, there are no long-term plans for them to continue as a pairing, but in the here and now, Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto enjoyed another successful week, defending the women’s doubles title at the Guwahati Masters Super 100 on Sunday.
Adding a second title on the day for the hosts was men’s singles third seed Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, while 17-year-old Anmol Kharb finished runner-up in women’s singles in what was her first World Tour final.
Ashwini and Tanisha, the only defending champions to retain the title, defeated China’s Li Hua Zhou and Wang Zi Meng 21-18, 21-12 in a 43-minute final to finish the week without dropping a single game. The pair had qualified for the Paris Olympics on the back of a fine domestic run at the back end of last year, but had a forgettable outing at the Games. But the veteran-youngster combination have continued playing on, with Tanisha saying she will honour the commitment to ‘Ashwini didi’. For the latter, in the twilight of the career, it’s a question of playing on as long as they can maintain a good level on tour.
“I definitely needed the break post-Paris,” Ashwini had told The Indian Express last week in Lucknow during the Syed Modi International when they lost in the semifinals. “Having played as long as I have, it definitely takes a toll at times. But the nice thing is, Tanisha is there for me as a partner. As long as she is there, and as long as I am fit enough to play… I think it’s also important we play at a certain high level – if that drops off then it would be very unfair on Tanisha, especially because she’s going well in mixed doubles with Dhruv (Kapila) and has a long way to go, and I think they can do really well.”
In the men’s singles final, Sathish Kumar prevailed 21-17, 21-14 victory over Zhu Xuan Chen of China. The 23-year-old had won the Odisha Masters Super 100 crown last year, making this his second title at this level on the World Tour. Interestingly, at an event with a large number of Indian entries, Sathish Kumar navigated through the entire draw by facing overseas opponents: Wang Zi Jun (China), Sholeh Aidil (Malaysia), Saran Jamsri (Thailand), and Wang Zheng Xing (China) in that order, before defeating Zhu in the title clash.
In the third final featuring an Indian, rising talent Anmol, who is set to break into the top 80 of the world rankings, took the lead but couldn’t convert it into a win as she went down against China’s Cai Yan Yan 14-21, 21-13, 21-19. It still marked the best result on the international stage for the teenager, who has had a breakthrough season starting with her impressive outings at the Badminton Asia Team Championship.
