Saina, Sameer enter Syed Modi badminton semi-finals

LUCKNOW: India’s Sameer Verma and Saina Nehwal kept the Indian flag flying high, making it to the semi-finals of the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships by notching up contrasting wins here on Friday.

Third seed Sameer defeated unseeded Chinese Zhou Zeqi 21-18, 16-21, 21-11 while Saina accounted for eighth-seeded compatriot Rituparna Das 21-19, 21-14 at the UPBA Academy here.

The losses suffered by former champion Parupalli Kashyap and fourth seed B Sai Praneeth in men’s quarterfinals were the big setbacks to India’s challenge in the World Tour Super 300 event.

Former World No 6 Kashyap could show some resistance in the second game before he lost to eighth seed Sitthikcom Thammasin of Thailand 16-21, 19-21. Praneeth lost to sixth seed Lu Guangzu of China 10-21, 21-19, 14-21. World No 16 Verma, despite winning the first game at 21-18 after levelling the scores at 17, found the Chinese, ranked a modest 64 in the world, a tough nut to crack in the second game, losing by five points. But in the decider, from 8-all Sameer didn’t look back and raced to 14-10 before clinching the issue at 21-11 in 72 minutes.

World No 9 and London Olympics bronze medallist Saina was pushed a bit in the opening game when pint-sized Das managed to draw level at 19. But an experienced Saina wrested back-toback points to pocket the game. World 56 Das again battled hard in the second game when she reduced the lead to 7-8, but it was all over for her after that.

China’s Li Xuerui, the 2012 Olympic champion who is a strong comeback after a long injury lay-off, was stretched a bit by unseeded Indian Sai Uttejitha Rao Chukka in the second game before winning her quarterfinal 21-9, 19-21, 21-12.

Experienced Ashwini Ponnappa remained the star of the day as she made it to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles and mixed doubles in style.

Fourth seeded Ponnappa first paired with N Sikki Reddy to brush aside the Indonesian duo of Tania Oktaviani Kusumah and Vanita Arianti Sukoco 19-21, 21-18, 21-8 in women’s doubles. Shen then paired with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy to defeat Indonesian pair Ronald Ronald and Annisa Saufika 20-22, 21-17, 21-11 in the mixed doubles last eight.