Satwik-Ashwini pair registers stunning win in Swiss Open opener

Team Udayavani, Mar 3, 2021, 12:24 PM IST

Basel: The Indian mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa stunned second-seeded Indonesian pair of Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja in the opening round of the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament here.

Satwik and Ashwini, who reached the semifinals of the Toyota Thailand Open Super 1000 event in January, notched up an upset 18-21 10-21 win over the world no 8 pair last night.

The world no.19 duo had earlier defeated the Indonesian combination at the Yonex Thailand Open in a thrilling three-game match in January.

Satwik and Ashwini, who has been training under new foreign coach Mathias Boe for the last one month, will face another Indonesian pair — Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Mentari — next.

Another Indian shuttler, Pranaav Jerry Chopra, who was returning to action after the COVID-19 break, didn’t have a good outing as he along with his mixed doubles partner N Sikki Reddy lost 18-21 15-21 to the third-seeded English pair of Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith in 39 minutes.

Top Indian players, including world champion P V Sindhu, will start their campaign later in the day.

Swiss Open is the first event in the extended Olympic qualification period which will end on June 15.

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