Dubai-born India shuttler Tanisha Crasto, 20, believes her flourishing doubles partnership with two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist and World Championships bronze medal-winner Ashwini Ponnappa, 33, could see the pair qualifying for next year’s Paris Olympics. Crasto-Ponnappa clinched the women’s doubles title at the Nantes International Challenge in France recently. The World No. 62 pair beat Chinese Taipei’s Hung En-Tzu and Lin Yu-Pei 21-15, 21-14 in the final.

The win was commendable considering Crasto suffered an abdominal injury on the eve of the final and had to play with a strap. After their win, the pain resurfaced in Crasto’s mixed doubles final alongside K Sai Pratheek. The pair went down 21-14, 14-21, 17-21 to Denmark’s Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch. Crasto, who trains at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad, began partnering Ponnappa only in January. And she’s enjoying every moment of it.