Odisha Masters 2023 badminton: Tanisha Crasto-Dhruv Kapila crowned mixed doubles champions
Satish Kumar Karunakaran won the men’s singles title while Nozomi Okuhara won the women’s singles final. Ponnappa-Crasto missed out.
Badminton
India’s rising badminton star Tanisha Crasto, along with partner Dhruv Kapila, won the Odisha Masters 2023 mixed doubles title at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday.
Up against the top seeds of the tournament Hee Yong Kai Terry and Tan Wei Han Jessica of Singapore, the newly-formed Indian doubles pair played out of their skins to win the contest 21-17, 19-21, 21-23.
Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila started the match with attacking intent but Hee Yong Kai Terry and Tan Wei Han Jessica fought back hard to win the first game.
The Indian badminton players went into the second break with a two-point advantage. Crasto and Dhruv Kapila built on that lead to take the match into the decider.
With spring in their stride, the Indian pair started applying pressure on their opponents. However, the pair from Singapore fought their way back and took an 11-9 lead at the interval. After the change of ends, the Indian pair dominated the game to clinch their first title as a pair.
Tanisha Crasto, who also made it to the women’s doubles final along with Ashwini Ponnappa, missed out on her second title on the day. The in-form Indian duo went down to Indonesia’s Meilysa Trias Puspitasari and Rachel Allessya Rose by 21-14, 21-17 scoreline.
In the men’s singles final, Satish Kumar Karunakaran defeated Ayush Shetty 21-18, 19-21, 21-14 to win the title. Sathish had a good season coming into Odisha Masters 2023. He won the title at India International and finished runner-up at the Maldives International.
In the men’s doubles final, Lin Bing-Wei and Su Ching Heng of Chinese Taipei beat India's Krishna Prasad Garaga and Sai Pratheek K 22-20, 18-21, 21-17.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles final, former world No. 1 Nozomi Okuhara staged an epic comeback to beat Hong Kong China’s Lo Sin Yan Happy to lift the title with a score of 21-7, 21-23, 22-20.
Results at Odisha Masters 2023, a BWF Tour Super 100 tournament, counted towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics.