Rio -- Already out of medal contention, the Indian women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa suffered their third successive loss in Rio, going down to Thailand's Supajirakul Puttita and Taerattanachai Sapsiree. Playing their second Olympics after the London Games, Jwala and Ashwini lost 17-21 15-21.
Jwala and Ashwini, the 2010 Commonwealth Games champions, had defeated the World No 16 Thai pair twice this year, at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold and at the Uber Cup, but all that didn't matter as their match lasted only 44 minutes at the Riocentre - Pavillion 4.
In the opening game, Jwala and Ashwini opened up a 6-3 lead before reaching 10-5 but soon they hit wide and played some miscued shots to allow the Thai pair enter the interval with a slender 11-10 lead.
The Indian combo managed to move ahead to 15-13 but once again errors came back to haunt them as Thai pair made it 16-15. Sapsiree and Puttita eventually pocketed the opening game in 21 minutes when Jwala hit the nets.
In the second game, the Thai pair carried on the momentum, surging 4-0 ahead. Jwala and Ashwini tried to narrow the gap but Sapsiree and Puttita entered the break at 11-5 after producing a smash to which the Indians had no answers.
The Thai pair continued to stay ahead after the interval, keeping a safe distance from the Indians. They had seven match points after the Indians hit long, and eventually sealed the contest when Jwala failed to negotiate a body smash following a long rally.
Jwala and Ashwini were eliminated from the women's doubles event yesterday after losing against the Dutch pair of Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek 16-21 21-16 17-21.
Meanwhile, in the men's doubles, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy ended their final group game with a 23-21, 21-11 win against Japan's Hendo Hiroyuki and Hayakawa Kenichi. Attri and Reddy, too, were already eliminated, after losing to the Chinese pair of Chai Biao and Hong Wei 21-13, 21-15 on Friday.