P V Sindhu sailed into the Semi-finals of the women’s singles at the 83rd Senior National Badminton Championship in Guwahati on Thursday.
Nagpur’s Vaishnavi Bhale and Ashmita Chaliha of Assam also showed superb resilience to book their maiden semifinal spots on a dramatic day.
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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.
Saina meanwhile, took just under half-an-hour to register a 21-11, 21-10 win against Mandada. She will next play Neha Pandit in her quarters fixture.
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.
(With Agency Inputs)
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