Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s shuttler Rutuparna Panda won her first international doubles title in Greece at Hellas Open Badminton Tournament on Sunday.
Rutuparna along with her partner Arathi Sara Sunil won the tournament by beating Vimala Heriau and Margot Lambert of France, 21-19, 21-12 in 50 minutes.
Notably, Rutuparna and Sara started playing together in May this year. They had first paired up for the two selection tournaments for the Asian Games after Rutuparna’s regular partner, Mithula UK, sustained a long-term injury earlier this year.
Rutuparna was a trainee in Badminton legend Pullela Gopichand’s Academy in Hyderabad.
She was born in Cuttack on May 7, 1999. She made her international debut in the Asian U-19 championship and later selected in the 20-member squad for Asian Games 2018, which was held at Jakarta.
