Saina struggles into Thailand Open semis

Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth advanced to the semifinals of the $120,000 Thailand Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament with convincing victories here on Friday. The second-seeded Saina, ranked 11 in the world, defeated Japan’s Haruko Suzuki 21-15, 20-22, 21-11 to make the last-four stage following the women’s singles clash that lasted one hour and nine minutes.

“Tough win today #thailandGPG #quaterfinals ..... won in three sets 21-15 ,22-20, 21-11 .... ” Saina wrote on her twitter handle after the win.

The 27-year-old London Olympics medallist, who had breezed past unseeded Ying Ying Lee of Malaysia in straight games 21-11 21-14 in the quarter-finals, will face Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the semi-final.

Earlier, the third seeded Praneeth comfortably defeated Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21-16, 21-17 in the men’s singles section at the Nimibutr Stadium.

The world number 24 took 50 minutes to complete the task against his opponent, ranked 102 in the world, and who produced some impressive performances in the tournament.

In their only meeting before today’s match, the 24-year-old Praneeth had beaten Wangcharoen 18-21 21-14 21-15 at the Indonesian Masters last year. The Singapore Open champion had beaten Iskandar

Zulkarnain of Malaysia in straight games in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Top chess players from 14 countries, including hosts India, will vie for honours in the ~29 lakh prize money 10th Mumbai Mayor’s Cup International Open Chess Tournament to be held here June 4-11.

GM Amonatov Farrukh (ELO 2632) of Tajikistan is the top seed while GM Diptayan Ghosh (ELO 2569), who is the second seed, would lead the Indian challenge along with Karthikeyan P (ELO 2502), who is seeded fifth, said a media release.