Ashwini-Sikki finish runners-up at Welsh Int'l Challenge

Cardiff: India's women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy finished runners-up at the Welsh International Challenge badminton tournament after losing in straight games in the final.

The unseeded Indian duo went down to top-seeded Russian combination of Olga Morozova and Anastasia Chervyakov 21-16, 21-11 in a contest that lasted just 37 minutes.

Earlier, Ashwini and Sikki had comfortably beaten England's Lauren Smith and Sophie Brown 21-16, 21-18 in their semifinal match. The Indians took 39 minutes to get the better of the English team.

Meanwhile, the men's doubles combo of Jishnu Sanyal and Shivam Sharma lost in the semifinals against Liao Kuan Hao and Lu Chia Pin of Chinese Taipei.

The third-seeded Chinese Taipei pair needed half-an-hour to make it to the finals by beating sixth seeded Indians 21-17 21-15.

Indians bowed out in the semifinals of the mixed doubles event also as second seeded N Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra lost to Malaysians Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai 16-21 14-21 in 39 minutes.