London, Aug 1 (IANS) It was a bittersweet result for India’s Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa as they brought their top game to win their last group B match against Shinta Mulia Sari and Lei Yao of Singapore Tuesday but it wasn’t enough for them to progress to the quarterfinals of women’s double badminton at the London Olympics.
The Indian duo, who lost their opening match, beat the Singaporean girls 21-16, 21-15 in just 31 minutes.
But the win wasn’t enough as Jawala and Ashwni, World Championship bronze medallists, finished third despite winning two matches like group toppers Yu Chin Chien and Wen Hsing Cheng of Chinese Tapiei and Japanese duo Reika Kakiiwa and Mizuki Fujii.
The Chinese Taipei and the Japanese team went through to the quarters on the basis of better points.
For the Indians, the first set was a tight affair with the Singapore team equalling them for half of the game. Jwala and Ashwini then pressed on the accelerator to take a eight point lead and finally close the game 21-16.
In the second game, the Indians were quickly out of the blocks taking a 10-0 lead. Complacency on their part allowed the Singapore pair to make a comeback into the match. But it proved to be a little too late as the Indians held on to record a memorable win.
Jwala partnered by V. Diju had earlier in the day lost third consecutive group match to be ousted from Olympics.
Jwala-Diju lost their third and final group match 15-21, 15-21 in 27 minutes against World No.9 pair of Ha Jung Eun and Lee Yong Dae of South Korea to end fourth and last in Group D. The win came as a consolation for the South Koreans who are also out of the tournament.
