Sindhu, Srikanth make last four stage
Lucknow, Jan. 27: National champion Sameer Verma and Mumbai’s Harsheel Dani shocked Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Vittinghus and Emil Holst, respectively, to reach the men’s singles semifinals at the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here on Friday.
Eighth seed Sameer, who reached the final of the Hong Kong Super Series last year, rode on his powerful smashes to stun second seed and world number 14 Vittinghus, who is coming back after undergoing apendicitis surgery 21-15, 21-13 in a 35-minute clash.
It was 15th seed Dani, 20, who started the proceeding when he dumped 12th seed Denmark’s Holst 21-16 17-21 21-11 in a thrilling contest.
A former under-19 champion, Harsheel, who had won the 2012 Karvy all-India junior ranking and was a runner up at the Turkey International Open 2015, will face Sameer on Saturday.
Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu expectedly brushed aside Vaidehi Choudhari 21-15 21-11 in another lop-sided contest, while defending champion Kidambi Srikanth boosted his confidence with a 21-12, 21-17 win over Malaysia’s seventh seed Zulfadli Zulkiffli.
While China Open champion Sindhu, world ranked sixth, faces Indonesia’s fourth seed Fitriani Fitriani, who edged out Polish Open winner Rituparna Das 21-17, 13-21, 23-21 in a hard-fought battle. Srikanth meets ninth seeded compatriot B. Sai Praneeth, who prevailed 2119, 12-21, 21-10 over compatriot Sourabh Varma, seeded 11th.
Sameer produced a brilliant game that was laced with deceptive smashes and half smashes, enough to bamboozle the world No. 14 Dane, who committed unforced errors galore to dent his chances.
In the mixed doubles, B. Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa outclassed Singapore’s Yong Kai Terry Hee and Wei Han Tan 21-18, 23-21.