Calgary, June 29 (IANS) India’s most successful women’s doubles shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa were crowned champions in the $50,000 Canada Open Grand Prix following their 21-19, 21-16 victory over the Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piekof in the final here.
The 2011 World Championships bronze medal-winning pair of Jwala-Ashwini took only 35 minutes on Sunday to get the better of Erfje-Selena at the Markin MacPhail Centre. They also won their first title since 2012 Olympic Games.
The third seeds Jwala-Ashwini, who matched their career-best rankings at 13 on Thursday, caught a very good start as they took a 6-2 lead even though Erfje-Selena fought back and equalised at 7-7.
The Dutch top seeds later were on a roll and wrestled back the ascendancy till the 17-point mark and Jwala-Ashwini were forced to play catch-up game.
The Indians succeeded in equalising at 17-all and sealed the game as the world No.8 Dutch pair remained at 19 points.
In the second game, 2010 Commonwealth Games champion pair Jwala-Ashwini played an attacking game and raced to a 8-2 lead that later swelled to 15-6.
The match witnessed a gigantic shift of momentum as Erfje-Selena grabbed 10 consecutive points that not only helped them equalise but also enabled them to hold a one-point advantage at 16-15.
However, after the Dutch pair’s show of might, Jwala-Ashiwni swung the momentum back in their favour and the 2014 Asian Championships bronze medal-winning pair snatched six points on the trot to bag the game and the match.