Ashwini Ponnappa celebrates during the badminton match at Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games
India's Ashwini Ponnappa and N.Sikki Reddy bagged the bronze medal in badminton women's doubles beating Australians Setyana Mapasa and Gronya Somerville at the 21st Commonwealth Games on Saturday. The Indian duo prevailed in straight games 21-19, 21-19 over the Australians, in a 47-minute crunch match at the Carrara Sports Arena in Gold Coast.
The opening game went neck and neck with both the teams locked twice at 3-3 and 6-6 before Ashwini and Sikki edged past with a slender 11-9 lead at the breather.
Coming back both the teams tried outwitting each other with a range of smashes as the scoreline once again matched at 14-14 before the Indian pair collected four straight points to surge ahead at 18-14.
But there was more drama in store as the Aussie pair came back strongly with two consecutive points to reduce the margin to 16-18 before Ashwini and Sikki closed it in 23 minutes.
The second game saw the Australians taking an early 4-0 lead before the Indians managed to open their account. Setyana and Gronya extended their lead to 11-9 midway into the game.
After the break, India went ahead collecting four points on the trot to take a 13-12 lead and stretched it further to 16-15.
The Australians, however, bounced back to level the scores at 18-18 and again at 19-19 before the Indian duo used their experience to collect the next two points and wrap up the pulsating game and match in 24 minutes.
(With IANS Inputs)
