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Jwala-Ashwini seeded No.1 at Vietnam Open
Ho Chi Minh City: Top Indian women’s doubles shuttlers Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa have been seeded No.1 for the $50,000 Vietnam Open Grand Prix to be held at the Nguyen Du Stadium here from August 24 to 30.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallists have lately been in form, which has also helped them to reach their current, career-best ranking of World No.12. Jwala and Ashwini reached the finals of the US Open Grand Prix Gold and followed it up with a title win at the Canada Open Grand Prix in June.
They also reached the quarterfinals of the World Championships last week in Jakarta but faltered a step short of repeating their 2011 Worlds performance when they clinched a bronze.
The two will open their campaign here against a qualifying pair in the first round.
Apart from Jwala and Ashwini, Pradnya Gadre and N. Sikki Reddy have been seeded seventh while Aparna Balan will partner Prajakta Sawant in the same category.
Akshay Dewalkar and Pranaav Chopra, who also took part at the World Championships, have been seeded third in men’s doubles and will take on Canadian pair of Adrian Liu and Derrick Ng in their opener. Arun Vishnu and Alwin Francis is the other Indian pair in the category.
There will be four Indian pairs taking part in mixed doubles. Ashwini will partner Chopra, Vishnu with Aparna, Dewalkar will team up with Prajakta while Sikki will partner Tarun Kona.
In men’s singles, Mumbai’s Ajay Jayaram is the highest seeded Indian at No.4 while B. Sai Praneeth is No.5 and 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist R.M.V. Gurusaidutt at No.13. Anand Pawar, Subhankar Dey and Sameer Verma are unseeded in the category.
P.C. Thulasi and Saili Rane are the only Indians taking part in women’s singles.
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.