Guwahati, Feb 14: Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu sailed into the last four stage, while Nagpur’s Vaishnavi Bhale and Ashmita Chaliha of Assam showed superb resilience to book their maiden semifinal spots on a dramatic day at the 83rd Senior National Badminton Championship here Thursday.
On a day when three pre-quarterfinals were postponed due to uneven court surface at the Assam Badminton Academy, Sindhu went about her business as usual, beating Riya Mookerjee 21-16 21-7 in 28 minutes to progress to the semifinals.
The top seed from Hyderabad, a former champion, had opened her campaign with a 21-11 21-13 win over Nagpur’s Malvika Bansod in the morning.
Vaishnavi, who had won the All India ranking tournament 2015 and finished runners-up at 2016, dug deep to eke out a hard-fought 19-21 22-20 21-11 win over third seed Shriyanshi Pardeshi.
The maximum cheer was reserved for local sensation Ashmita, who kept her cool in two successive thrillers to set up a semifinal clash against Sindhu.
The 19-year-old left-handed sensation from Assam, who claimed her first two senior international titles at the Dubai International Challenge and Tata Open International Challenge last year, showed great rearguard action to secure a 16-21 21-17 21-19 win over Aakarshi Kashyap in the quarters.
The fourth seeded Assamese girl had earlier defeated Vaidehi Choudhari 21-13 15-21 21-12 in the pre-quarterfinals.
In men’s singles, Lakshya Sen and Kaushal Dharmamer progressed to the last four with straight game wins over their respective opponents.
While Lakshya beat Aryamann Tandon 21-14 21-10, Harsheel Dani’s superb run was cut short by Kaushal, who notched up a 21-11 21-19 to make his maiden semifinal spot at the tournament. (PTI)
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