Rupesh Kumar & Sanave Thomas In New Zealand Open Final  Rupesh Kumar |
India's men's doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas entered the final of the New Zealand Open Grand Prix badminton in Auckland on Friday.
The duo took about 30 minutes to register a 21-15, 21-14 win over Malaysia's Teik Chai Gan and Bin Shen Tan in the semi-final.
The win will boost up Indian pair's confidence ahead of the World Championships in Hyderabad commencing on August 10.
The Indian pair will face fourth-seeded Japanese pair Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Noriyasu Hirata in the final. Hashimoto and Hirata overcame second seeds Fernando Kurniawan and Lingga Lie of Indonesia 21-16, 17-21, 21-17 in the other semi-final.
On the other hand, the women's pair of Aparna Balan and Shruti Kurian, who were also runners-up in Australia, lost 19-21, 15-21 to top seeds Tsz Ka Chan and Ying Suet Tse of Hong Kong in a 27-minute semi-final contest.
