At the prestigious Indonesia Open Super 1000 badminton tournament, India’s mixed doubles hopes dimmed early, with only one pair advancing past the opening round on Wednesday. Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath emerged as the sole bright spot, while all other Indian duos bowed out after first-round defeats.
Sathish and Aadya delivered a gritty performance against Chinese Taipei’s Ye Hong-Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan, clinching a hard-fought 15-21, 21-16, 21-17 victory in a 45-minute battle. After dropping the opening game, the Indian pair showed resilience and tactical discipline to mount a comeback and seal their place in the second round.
Their impressive win brought a glimmer of hope in what otherwise turned out to be a disappointing day for India in the mixed doubles discipline.
Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde were unable to match the pace and precision of Japan’s Yuichi Shimogami and Sayaka Hobara, suffering a straight-games defeat 14-21, 9-21. The Indian duo struggled to find rhythm against the fast-moving Japanese pair and exited the tournament without much resistance.
A similar fate awaited Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh, who went down to Denmark’s Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch. Despite flashes of aggressive play, they were unable to challenge the Danish pair’s consistency, losing 15-21, 9-21.
Meanwhile, Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto showed promise by pushing the second-seeded Malaysian pair Tang Jie Chen and Ee Wei Toh to three games. After losing the first game 11-21, they staged a strong comeback in the second, winning 21-16. However, they couldn’t sustain the momentum in the decider and eventually fell short, 14-21, in a closely contested final game.
The early exits mark a disappointing outing for the Indian contingent in the mixed doubles draw, especially given the high stakes of a Super 1000 event. With only Sathish and Aadya remaining in contention, the pressure now mounts on the young duo to carry the flag forward and keep India’s hopes alive in the tournament.
