Panda sisters bag historic silver medal at Saint-Denis Open International Challenge badminton tournament

The Panda sisters, Rutaparna and Swetaparna, bagged a historic silver medal at Saint-Denis Réunion Open International Challenge badminton tournament, which concluded at Saint Denis, Réunion, on Sunday.

Rutaparna and Swetaparna won the silver medal in the women’s doubles after the Odisha siblings lost a hard-fought women’s doubles final against the top seeds.

The Panda sisters missed the gold medal by a whisker but created a unique record on their way to reaching their maiden final at an international tournament.

Top seeds Annabella Jaeger and Leona Michalski of Germany edged past Rutaparna and Swetaparna Panda 13-21, 21-18, 21-18 in a marathon summit clash that lasted for an hour and 12 minutes.

The world No. 570 Panda sisters fought hard but could not get the better of their experienced German opponents.

The Panda sisters got off to a flying start and raised hopes of claiming a dream gold medal. However, the siblings failed to capitalize on their great start and went down fighting in three games to their German opponents, who are ranked 132 in the world.

Rutaparna and Swetaparna became the first Indian sisters to reach an international challenge tournament final

Panda sisters, Rutaparna and Swetaparna became the first Indian siblings to reach the women’s doubles final of any international challenge badminton tournament.

Although they lost the final by a whisker, the Panda sisters created a new Indian record.

Earlier, the Deodhar sisters, Tara, Sunder, and Suman, dominated the sport and left a lasting legacy in the 40s and 50s. The Apte sisters, Sarojini, Sunila, and Sanjeevani Apte, ruled the roost in the Nationals during the 60s and 70s.

However, after the Deodhar and Apte sisters, there was no Indian sister pair who excelled at women's doubles on the international stage.

The Panda sisters, who started playing together only a few months ago at the international level, put in some excellent performances to reach their maiden final.

The lower-ranked Panda sisters stunned third seeds Lorna Bodha and Kobita Dookhee of Mauritius in the semi-finals on Saturday. They needed just 21 minutes to get the better of the Mauritius pair who were ranked 224 in the world.

Dominating from the word go, the Panda sisters thrashed the Mauritius pair 21-8, 21-5 to seal their berth in Sunday’s final.

Cuttack-based Rutaparna is 23, while Swetaparna turned 17 last month. Rutaparna is quite an experienced player on the international circuit. She represented the Indian badminton team at the 2018 Asian Games.

Until recently, Rutaparna was playing women’s doubles with Tanisha Crasto and achieved quite a bit of success at the international level. However, she left Tanisha as she wanted to play with her younger sister.

Panda sisters emulate Bulgaria’s Stoeva sisters and Aimsaard sisters of Thailand

Bulgaria’s Stoeva sisters have been dominating the women’s doubles circuit in recent months. Stefani Stoeva has formed a very successful partnership with her older sister, Gabriela Stoeva. They competed at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics.

Stoeva sisters, ranked ninth in the world, won the Swiss Open and Orleans Masters this year and finished runners-up at the German Open.

Fourth-seeded Benyapa and Nuntakarn Aimsaard were crowned the women’s doubles champions at the BWF India Open in New Delhi earlier this year. Thailand’s Aimsaard sisters are ranked 30th in the world.

The way the Panda sisters have started, it looks like they will soon make a mark for themselves at the international level together.