The wait for medals continue as India’s women’s doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa bowed out of the Rio Olympics after going down to Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek of the Netherlands in their second Group A match at Rio on Friday.
The Indian duo suffered a 16-21, 21-16, 17-21 defeat against the Dutch pair in a contest that lasted more than one hour at the Riocentro arena.
Despite being neck-and-neck in the first half of the first set, the Indian pair wilted under pressure to lose the game 16-21 in 19 minutes.
The second set was dominated by the Indian pair as they raced to a three-point lead of 11-8 and then to 18-15. They maintained the lead and did not let the advantage slip until the last to clinch the second game.
The decider set saw the Indians slip from a position of strength to submission. At one point they were at par but finally Jwala-Ashwini gave away some easy points to lose it 17-21.
Jwala and Ashwini had also lost their opening match on Thursday against Japanese pair of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi.
This was the Dutch pair’s second win in as many games and they and the Japanese pair of Matsutomo and Takahashi are through to the quarter-finals.
The Indian pair will play their final Group A clash against the Thai shuttlers Puttita Supajirakul and Sapsiree Taerattanachai, who are also out of the Games.
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