Indian mixed doubles pair of Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh lost a 71-minute thriller to Emre Sonmez and Yasmeen Bektas 21-16, 29-30, 22-24.

Despite winning the first game easily, the Indian pair lost the second game in golden point and couldn’t close the match in the decider.

What is Golden Point?

This is the first instance of a game going into golden point at the ongoing edition of BWF World Championships in Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi.

The Indian pair was neck-to-neck with the Turkish pair in the second game with both pairs winning points alternatively throughout the game.

After none of the pairs were able to take the standard two points gap to win the game, the rule of Golden point was activated.

Golden point immediately decides the winner of that game (30–29), bypassing the usual rule that requires a two-point clear margin.

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The Turkish pair prevailed in the golden point and won the second game making their comeback in the match. They eventually won the decider 24-22.

One of the famous instances of golden point is Lee Zii Jia winning the first game of the All England 2021 final against Viktor Axelsen. He won the game 30-29 and then won the decider 21-9 to win the title.

Last minute entry

The debutants were the last minute entry from reserves after two withdrawals. The duo was playing in a State championship when they heard about the confirmation.

“We were playing state championships and now we are here. It’s like a dream come true for us,” said Ashith.

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“This will act as a springboard for us. We hope to improve from,” the Indian duo concluded.

“It was a tight game for us. We won the first game and went ahead with confidence. But we couldn’t win the sudden death point,” said Ashith.

Amrutha said that the experience will help them in future events. “Our learning will be to win the match points when we have the chance. No point in dragging till the end,” she said.