WSF World Doubles: Surprise defeat for duo of Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal

The Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning women’s doubles team of Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal suffered a surprise defeat in the semi-finals of the WSF World International Doubles at Marrara, Darwin in Australia on Wednesday. The Indian duo, who were top-seeded at this event, went down 5-11, 10-11 to the second-seeded Australian pair of Rachael Grinham and Donna Urquhart in 29 minutes.

Indian team in mixed doubles final

Later on, India had better fortunes in mixed doubles where the second-seeded pair of Saurav Ghosal and Pallikal prevailed in all-Indian semi-final over the fifth seeds Harinderpal Sandhu and Chinappa, 10-11, 11-7, 11-6. The match lasted 37 minutes.

Saurav and Dipika will now face the third seeds Paul Coll and Joelle King of New Zealand in the title showdown on Thursday.

Earlier, the Indian mixed doubles teams finished their final group assignments in the morning that helped decide the pool standings. Ghosal and Pallikal edged past the third seeds Coll and King in a marathon, 11-10, 8-11, 11-8 that finished in 46 minutes.

This was the fifth win for the Indian duo and that put them at the top of Pool B.

In Pool A, the fifth-seeded Chinappa and Sandhu too had a tough match against the Australians David Palmer and Urquhart. The Indians fought hard but ended up on the losing side, 11-7, 5-11, 8-11 in 41 minutes.

It put the Indians in the second place in the final group standings in Pool A that ensured their semi-final face-off with the Pool B toppers, Ghosal and Pallikal.