Renowned Odisha shuttler Rutaparna Panda and her younger sibling Swetaparna Panda won the women doubles silver medal by finishing runners-up in the APACS Kazakhstan International Future Series 2023 at the Centre of Badminton in Shymkent, Kazakhstan today.
Indonesian pair of Nethania Irawan and Fuyu Iwasaki won the gold medal, defeating tte Indian duo of Rutaparna and Swetaparna in the final 21-13, 21-15. Kazakhstan International is a BWF Future Series event, which was organized by Kazakhstan Badminton Federation from May 31.
Top seeds Rutaparna and Swetaparna reached the final, defeating Diana Garamoda and Barno Qosimjonova (Uzbekistan) 21-12, 21-11 in the quarterfinals and Haya Almudarra and Kadeeja Latheef (Saudi Arabia) 21-10, 21-6 in the semifinals.
This was the ninth international medal for Rutaparna, who won her first one in 2018. For Swetaparna, this was her third international medal. Both Rutaparna and Swetaparna are students of KIIT Deemed to be University, Bhubaneswar, pursuing MBA and BBA respectively.
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PHOTO: Panda sisters, Rutaparna (Left) and Swetaparna pose with their silver medal at the Kazakhstan International Future Series Tournament in Shymkent on 3 June 2023.