India's Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa snuffed out their chances of advancing in the women's doubles badminton contest after losing 21-16, 16-21, 21-17 to Netherlands' Eefie Muskens and Selena Piek at the Rio Games on Friday.
The world No 11-ranked Dutch pair took the first game 21-16 in less than 20 minutes. Ashwini, smashing particularly well, helped the Indian duo level affairs at 1-1.
In the third game, a powerful smash by Muskens had the Dutch pair nosing ahead 8-7 with the Indians' lack of co-ordination at crucial junctures costing them key points. Ashwini netted one to fall behind 15-17 before Jwala dispatched a return wide at 17-20 to hand the match to the Dutch.
The Indian pair had lost their first group-stage match in straight games to top seeds Ayaka Takahashi and Misaki Matsutomo.
Attri and Reddy also lose
Indian badminton's brush with poor luck continued on Friday with the duo of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy slumping to their second consecutive loss in the group stage to exit the competition. They lost to Chinese pair of Chai Biao and Hong Wei 21-13, 21-15.
With the world No 5-ranked Chinese pair blitzing to a 21-13 win in the first game, the Indian pair moved to a 3-0 lead in the following game before extending it to 4-2. Closing in on the gap with the score reading 11-13, it briefly seemed that the Indians might be able to force a decider. The Chinese duo, however, had other plans. Courtesy deft drop shots cross and court smashes, Biao and Wei soon seized a convincing 19-15 lead and the Indians couldn't find a way to catch up, going down 15-21.