CHENNAI: India’s Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal made it to the women's doubles final of the WSF World doubles championships in Glasgow on Friday.
It wasn’t an ideal situation for the seasoned Indian pair as they received a walkover in the semifinal by the New Zealand duo of Joelle King and Amanda Landers Murphy. Joshna and Dipika will face the winner of the clash between England’s Sarah-Jane Perry and Alison Waters against Malaysian pair of Rachel Arnold and Sivasangari Subramaniam.
Joshna and Dipika, playing in a competitive tournament after a gap of over three years, have had a good run so far.
Chris Walker, head coach of the Indian team, was understandably pleased with the duo’s performance.
“Both Joshna and Dipika have hit top form which is great. They are slipping into their old routine,” Walker told TOI.
Joshna and Dipika, the third seeds placed in Group B, began their campaign with an 11-6, 11-8 win over Malaysian duo of Ainaa Ampandi and Yiwen Chan.
The Indian pair got a walkover in their subsequent encounter. They then got the better of Hong Kong’s Tsz-Wing Tong and Ho Tze-Lok 11-9, 11-8.
Joshna and Dipika’s next victims were the top seeds Abbi Palmer and Kaitlyn Watts of New Zealand, and the scoreline read 11-5, 11-3.
However, Joshna and Dipika hit a rough patch as they went down to the second seeds Sarah-Jane Perry and Alison Waters from England 11-9, 11-8.
They will be hoping to finish the tournament in style on Saturday.
