Jwala-Ashwini pair eyes Canada title ahead of Rio Games

TIL Desk Sports/ 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.

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.