From state meet to epic tie in World C'ships: Dream come true for last-minute entrants Amrutha & Ashith

Key points

• NEW DELHI: From being in the thick of the state championship to featuring in the World Championships in a matter…
• Two days later, they appeared for the first time at the coveted event in New Delhi.
• They could not have made a better start as they largely controlled the proceedings in the opening game to take…
• Despite the defeat, they were happy to be part of the big stage.

NEW DELHI: From being in the thick of the state championship to featuring in the World Championships in a matter of days. Amrutha Pramuthesh and Ashith Surya lived their dream on Tuesday. The shuttlers from Karnataka were taking part in a state-level meet in Dharwad barely a few days ago when they received a call to be part of the ongoing World Championships in New Delhi. Without second thoughts, they happily left the state meet to reach New Delhi by Sunday.

Two days later, they appeared for the first time at the coveted event in New Delhi. They had victory in sight against the Turkish pairing of Emre Sönmez and Yasemen Bektas, but they heartbreaking ended up on the losing side (16-21, 30-29, 24-22).

Amrutha and Ashith, who were part of the reserve list, were last-minute inclusions after the final draw, following the last-minute withdrawals of seeded players, was produced. “We were actually playing in some other tournament and we left that tournament half-way. We were in the state championship,” Ashith said.

They could not have made a better start as they largely controlled the proceedings in the opening game to take the lead. But the second game was a real test of will altogether. There was nothing separating the two sides as they traded points one after another until the end. The Indians, in fact, had six match point opportunities but failed to convert them. Even in the third essay, they had one match point opportunity but couldn’t make it count.

What happened

“This is something that we had dreamt about. We never thought we’d get an entry for this. As soon as we secured the news, we were very happy,” Amrutha remarked.

Incidentally, Amrutha had pulled out of her women’s doubles final match. It was due to be held on Sunday, against Ashwini Bhat and Shikha Gautam.

“I was initially feeling overwhelmed but coming here, playing here… the crowd support was incredible. It pushed us even harder. I wish we could have taken the game but overall it was a really good game,” she added.