2015 World Championships - Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa enter quarterfinals

Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa move into the quarters

The women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa moved into the quarterfinals of the Badminton World Championships after beating Reika Kakiiwa and Miyuki Maeda of Japan 21-15 18-21 21-19 in the third round on Thursday.

The opening game saw the Indian pair begin well as they finished the interval with an 11-8 lead and then backed that up with another streak of points after the interval to seal the opening game 21-15 in their favour.

The second game saw the Japanese pair take an early 4-2 lead and then held on to the advantage to head into the interval with an 11-8 lead. After the break, the Indian pair tried to claw their way back into the contest and managed to do so, but Kakiiwa and Maeda continued to chip away with the points and eventually won the second game 21-18 to take the match into a decider.

The deciding game saw both pairs win 3 out of the first points before the Indian pair won 3 out of the next 5 points to go 6-5 up. They then slowly started to chip away with the points, thereby mounting the pressure on Kakiiwa and Maeda and led 11-10 at the interval mark.

After the interval, the game began to get absolutely neck-and-neck as both pairs continued to exchange leads but at the 16-16 mark, the Indian pair started to take the game away, winning 3 points at a stretch to go 19-16 up. But the Japanese pair refused to buckle down and won the next 2 points.

Eventually, however, Gutta and Ponnappa held their nerve and eventually won the game 21-19 to book a spot in the quarters.

Final Scoreline – Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa beat Reika Kakiiwa/Miyuki Maeda 21-15 18-21 21-19.