BWF World Championships: Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila fall short of historic medal

India's hopes of winning their first-ever mixed doubles medal at the World Championships ended in heartbreak as Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila crashed out in the quarterfinals in Paris on Friday, 29 August. The Indian duo, ranked 17th in the world, were comfortably outclassed by World No. 4 Chen Tangjie and Toh Eewei of Malaysia.

Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto had entered the match high on confidence after stunning the World No. 5 pair of Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet in the Round of 16 on Thursday. However, the Indian duo lost the quarterfinal 15-21, 13-21, in just 37 minutes.

Dhruv and Tanisha were one win away from becoming only the first Indian mixed doubles pair, and the third Indian doubles pair overall—after Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta (2011) and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (2022)—to medal at the World Championships. However, the Indian duo were unable to match the class and quality of Tangjie and Eewei in the quarterfinals.

The match began positively for Dhruv and Tanisha, who played aggressive badminton to take an early 8-3 lead in the first game. However, they allowed Tangjie and Eewei to bounce back with a run of five consecutive points. The Malaysian pair led at the mid-game break, albeit by just one point.

Dhruv and Tanisha continued to keep the pressure on, but Tangjie and Eewei raced to the finish line in the first game, winning seven of the last nine points. In the second game, the Malaysians led from start to finish, never allowing the Indian duo to claw their way back and force a decider.

It appeared that the physical toll of a three-game marathon in the Round of 16 affected the Indian pair in the quarterfinal. Dhruv also faced an injury scare during his second-round match on Wednesday.

Despite missing out on a medal, Dhruv and Tanisha will take a great deal of confidence from their run in Paris. Dhruv, 25, and Tanisha, 22, had also reached the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Championships and the Malaysia Masters earlier this year.

Later in the day, PV Sindhu will be eyeing a record-breaking sixth World Championship medal when she takes on Indonesia's ninth seed, Putri Kusuma Wardani. Satwiksairaj and Chirag will be aiming for their second world medal when they face second seeds and familiar rivals Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.