Tanvi Sharma storms into semifinals at Syed Modi International

Tanvi Sharma entered the semifinals of the Syed Modi International Super 300 in Lucknow after beating Hong Kong’s Lo Sin Yan Happy. Unnati Hooda, Kidambi Srikanth, Mithun Manjunath, Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly also progressed to the last four

Hyderabad: Giant killer Tanvi Sharma continued her dream run by reaching the semi-finals of the Syed Modi International Super 300 badminton tournament in Lucknow on Friday. It was a mixed day for the top seeds as India’s Unnati Hooda registered a hard-fought win while Singapore’s Jai Heng Jason Teh was knocked out in the quarterfinals.

Sixteen-year-old Tanvi, who had upset former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the earlier round, packed off Hong Kong’s Lo Sin Yan Happy in straight games 21-13, 21-19 in 38 minutes to set up a last-four clash against fifth seed Hina Akechi of Japan. Akechi upset third seed Sung Shuo Yun 21-8, 21-15 in the other quarterfinal.

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In the upper half, Unnati came through in a battle of two rising stars of India as she got the better of Rakshitha Sree Santosh R 21-15, 13-21, 21-16. She will next face Turkey’s fourth seed Neslihan Arin in the semifinals. Arin overcame the challenge of India’s Isharani Baruah 21-19, 13-21, 21-15.

While Unnati survived, men’s top seed Teh went down 19-21, 21-12, 20-22 in an hour and five minutes against Minoru Koga of Japan, who will now meet Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan in the semifinals. The other semi-final will be an all-Indian affair with fifth seed Kidambi Srikanth taking on Mithun Manjunath. Srikanth advanced after compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat retired when the score was 21-14, 11-4 in the former world No 1’s favour, while Mithun got the better of Manraj Singh 21-18, 21-13.

In the women’s doubles event, top seeds Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly defeated fifth seeds Bengisu Ercetin and Nazlican Inci of Turkey 21-15, 21-16 to reach the semifinals.

Treesa will also feature in the mixed doubles semifinal alongside Hariharan Amsakarunan after they defeated Australia’s Andika Ramadiansyah and Nozomi Shimizu 21-18, 21-14 in the quarterfinals.