Guwahati Masters Super 100: Ashwini-Tanisha return to defend title

Guwahati (The Uttam Hindu): Defending women’s doubles champions Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto along with the talented men’s singles player Priyanshu Rajawat will be eying the title in the second edition of the Guwahati Masters Super 100 badminton tournament, begining here this week. Ashwini-Tanisha and Rajawat have been given the top billing in their respective events and the badminton fans will be hoping that the Indian shuttlers will repeat last week’s showing at the Syed Modi International Super 300 where the hosts had a representative in all five finals and won three of them. A total of 461 players from 20 countries are to participate in the tournament with the main draw starting from Wednesday and will continue over the next five days.  Apart from men’s singles and women’s doubles, the Indian mixed doubles combination of Satish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variyath are seeded No. 1 while a lot will be expected from the second-seeded pair of Hariharan Aasakarunan and R. Ruban Kumar in the men's doubles section.  “The idea of hosting the Super 100 is to provide the young Indian talent a platform to showcase their skills. The performance in the first edition last year played an important role in helping Ashwini and Tanisha qualify for the Paris Olympics. We are hoping that a few players will grab this opportunity and not just showcase their talent but build the foundation that will elevate their career from here on,” said the tournament’s organising secretary Omar Rashid All eyes will also be on the performance of the new mixed doubles combination of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha, who recently reached the final of the Syed Modi international earlier in the week. In women’s singles, the Indian challenge will be shouldered by the likes of Unnati Hooda and national silver medallist Tanvi Sharma.