India's Sutirtha Mukherjee-Ayhika Mukherjee wins gold in TT beating Japanese pair in Tunis

Kolkata: Indian pair Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee did what no other doubles pair has done before as duo, defeated the second-seeded Japanese Miyuu Kihara and Miwa Harimoto in the women’s doubles final of the WTT Contender Tunis 2023 to win gold.

The Indian duo won 3-1 (11-5, 11-6, 5-11, 13-11) in a challenging final on Sunday night for the first title this year in a Contender event, a delayed report received from the TTFI said on Tuesday.

"What is significant is the World No. 36 pair’s remarkable overall consistency, especially in the final against the two rising Japanese teenagers, ranked among the top-25 in the world in singles," he said.

After taking a comfortable 2-0 lead, the Indians dropped the third game and regrouped themselves in the next to outsmart the Japanese on extended points to claim the title.

A day earlier, the Indians advanced to the final after beating the Korean duo of Shin Yubin and Jeon Jihi 3-2 (7-11, 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9), ranked No. 4 in the world, in a hard-fought last-four clash, and before that, they accounted for Chen Szn-Yu and Huang Yi-Hua 3-2 from Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals. (UNI)