Hyderabad: Mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju became the first Indians to enter the quarterfinals of World Badminton Championship.
Jwala and Diju, who got a bye in the first round followed by a walkover in the second, opened their campaign in rollicking style, outclassing 12th seed polish duo of Robert Mateusiak and Nadiezda Kostiuczyk 21-11 22-20 in a 31-minute clash.
Jwala-Diju broke little sweat in getting past the Robert-Nadiezda pair.
The World number eight pair didn't allow their Polish rivals to recover from their initial onslaught and pocketed the first game without any hassle.
The Polish combo came back strongly in the next game and took a three point lead at 13-16 but the Indian duo pocketed three straight points to draw parity and then moved neck and neck till 18-18.
The Polish duo soon grabbed two points to reach 20-18 but Jwala-Diju pair saved two match points to first claw back and then pocketed another two pointer to seal the match at 22-20.
"I think this two extra days helped us. We had played against them four years ago in the Sudirman cup. I was unwell and we lost that match but today we were confident. They were under pressure with the crowd cheering for us," Jwala said.
The world number eight Indian pair will face defending champions and second seed Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia in the quarterfinal on Friday.
"We have played against them and we won, so we have a bonus I feel," Diju said.
Comments
0 comment