Jwala-Ashwini pair eyes Canada title ahead of Rio Games

Rio-bound Indian women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will look to boost their confidence ahead of the Olympic Games when they start their title defence at the USD 55,000 Canada Open badminton tournament, starting here tomorrow.
2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallists, Jwala and Ashwini didn't have the best results in the run up to the Rio Olympics and the duo will look to put their best foot forward when they take the court here with just a little more than a month to go for the Games.
Jwala and Ashwini had helped India win a second bronze in Uber Cup in May and also reached the quarterfinals of the China Masters in April and New Zealand Open in March, beside a semifinal finish at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold in January.

The World No. 16 pair have got a bye in the opening round here and will clash straight in the quarterfinals.
Another Rio-bound pair -- Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy -- too will look to sharpen their skills ahead of the Games when they start their campaign against local combo of Timothy Chiu and Jason Anthony Ho-Shue in men's doubles on Wednesday.
Among other Indians in the fray, Ajay Jayaram, HS Prannoy, Sai Praneeth and RMV Gurusaidutt look to lay claim to the crown in men's singles. It has been a difficult season for all of them plagued by injuries and bad form.

"It has been tough last few months with injuries. I had injured my left foot last year and then I suffered an injury at right foot. I played a couple of matches in public sector. But I have no targets in this event," Prannoy told PTI.

There will also be some young shuttlers such as Harsheel Dani and Pratul Joshi.
In women's singles, Tanvi Lad and Ruthvika Shivani will carry India's charge in the absence of Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, taking on Denmark's Julie Finne-Ipsen and Kyleigh O' Donoghue of Canada, respectively.
Gregoria Mariska of Indonesia, meanwhile, dispatched
Spain's third seed Beatriz Corrales 21-9 21-11 to set up a semifinal match with Indonesian sixth seed Hanna Ramadini, who edged out Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli.

In mixed doubles, seventh seeds B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa eked out a 21-18 23-21 win over third seeds Singaporean Yong Kai Terry Hee and Wei Han Tan to set up a clash with top seeds Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark, who defeated Malaysian combo of Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai 21-15 21-11 in another match.
Second seeds Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, who won the Brazil and Russia Open last year, beat eighth seeded Malaysian-Indian pair of Yogendran Khrishnan and Prajakta Sawant 21-16 21-19 and will face another Danish pair of Mathias Christiansen and Sara Thygesen, seeded fifth.

In women's doubles, top seeds Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen are yet to play in the tournament as they received yet another walkover from Indian duo of Aparna Balan and Prajakta Sawant. Newly-formed pair of Sikki and Ashwini stunned second seeded Malaysian Mei Kuan Chow and Lee Meng Yean 21-14 21-18 to sail into the semis.
Sanjana Santosh and Arathi Sara Sunil notched up a 12-21 21-12 21-9 win over fourth seeds Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha S Ram to also reach the semifinals.