Another set of Indians has reached the end of the Rio road.
The doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa crashed out of women's badminton at the Rio Olympics on Friday. The Indian duo went down fighting to the Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek 21-16, 16-21, 21-17. With two defeats out of two, they can no longer progress from the group stage, as they were expected to.
The Dutch won the first set relatively comfortably, 21-16, after an initial battle by the Indians. But Gutta and Ponnappa made a fighting comeback in the second to win 21-16.
The third set was a closely fought affair. However, after matching the Dutch point for point for much of the set, the Indians dropped their intensity, which gave the Dutch the window of opportunity they needed to win 21-17.
The Indians had earlier lost to the World No. 1 pair from Japan, Matsutomo Misaki and Takahashi Ayaka, 21-15, 21-10.