India's women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy on Friday beat British duo of Chloe Birch and Lauren Smith in a hard-fought three-game encounter to end their campaign at the BWF World Tour Finals with a consolation win.
The Indian duo lost their previous two group stage matches in straight games and hence finished a poor third in group B failing to qualify for the semi-final stage.
Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy had to fight hard to win the opening game edging past their opponents 21-19. However, they lost the plot in the second game losing the game 9-21 to make it one game apiece. But in the third and final game, they got their rhythm back to register a comfortable 21-14 win and seal the match in their favour. Ponnappa-Sikki finally won the inconsequential match with 21-19, 9-21, 21-14.
With two defeats and just one win in their kitty, the experienced duo had a disappointing run at the World Tour Finals. After their ouster, India's campaign in doubles came to a disappointing end as Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had already pulled out as the former suffered a knee injury.
Later in the day, PV Sindhu will take on Pornpawee Chochuwong in her last group stage match which is inconsequential as she has already made it to the semi-finals.
( With inputs from ANI )
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