Ashwini-Tanisha Win Women's Doubles Title At Nantes International Challenge; Tanisha-Pratheek Lose In Final

India's Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crastp won their maiden women's doubles title in the Nantes International Challenge 2023 badminton championship, beating Hung En-Tzu and Lin Yu-Pei of Chinese Taipei in straight games in the final.

The Indian pair won the match 21-15, 21-14 in 31 minutes at the Salle Metropolitana de la Trocardière on Sunday evening. The Indian pair is ranked 76th in BWF Women's Doubles rankings while their opponents are ranked 416.

The Indians conceded an early lead, trailing 0-4 but then fought back to tie the scores at 10-10 and then won the next three points to take the lead and eventually won the first game, 21-15.

In the second game, Ashwini and Tanisha were more dominant and from 3-3 opened up a lead as they won seven points in a row. They did not allow their opponents to bridge the gap and went on to win the game 21-14.

There was a setback for India in the mixed doubles final as Tanisha and K. Sai Pratheek, who came through to the qualifiers to reach the summit clash, lost to the Danish pair of Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch, 21-14, 14-21, 17-21 in 51 minutes.

In men's singles, India's Sameer Verma lost to Arnaud Merkle of France in the semifinals on Saturday, going down in straight games 21-19, 21-16. Merkle went on to beat qualifier, Jason Christ Alexander of Indonesia 21-18, 21-16 in the final to win the title.

In women's singles, India's Aditi Bhatt crashed out in the semifinals, losing to Liang Ting Yu of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 21-17. The Chinese Taipei player went on to lose to Indonesia's Komang Ayu Cahya Dewi in the final on Sunday.