After Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, it is Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto who are making their way up the ranks in women’s doubles. A relatively new pair, the Ponnappa-Tanisha pair is WR-28 in the world and is already harboring hopes of making it to the Paris 2024 Olympics. They are on a high currently after finishing runners-up at the Syed Modi International 2023.
After a solid performance last week, Tanisha said, “There’s a fairly good chance of qualifying in the women’s doubles more than the mixed doubles. “We (Tanisha and Dhruv Kapila) have only started playing a tournament together and I think there are, there’s just like four-five months left for the Olympics qualification. So, practically, if you’d see, there’s a fairly decent chance of qualifying in the women’s doubles, and that is where my focus is,” she told Hindustan Times.
Ashwini-Tanisha has pocketed two titles this year already, Abu Dhabi Masters and Nantes International Challenge, and they could be good for more if they remain consistent. “I think we are a great pair and, of course, have a potential to be ‘deadly’ because… it is very difficult to find combinations like this, where one is really good at the back and has immense power to hit, and I think the only thing that can complement a player like that is someone who can really catch the net well and finish it,” she added.
“This partnership is actually built right this way. I find it very comfortable to play in the front. And she sees it from the back – that’s where her strength is. And that allows me to finish from the front. I think people will really look up to our pair because we have good partnership and it is very rare t find a duo where you have one really offensive player at the back, but also an offensive player in the front. A lot of pairs don’t really have that luxury,” added Tanisha.
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