Gayatri displays top form

Hyderabad’s Gayatri Gopichand Pullela marched into the semifinals of the girls under-13 and under-15 categories at the all-India sub-junior ranking badminton tournament, being played at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy at Gachibowli in Hyderabad.

Gayatri, who is the top seed in the under-13 category, got the better of fifth-seeded Kavipriya in straight games 21-13, 21-11 to reach the semifinals.

In the under-15 competition, Gayatri rallied past Chimran Kalita, the seventh seed, 9-21, 2117, 21-12 to make the last four.

In other girls’ under-15 singles matches, state girl Vaishnavi Reddy Jakka came back from a game down to outplay Ritika Thaker 21-23, 21-19, 21-18.

The Telangana girl was rusty in the beginning, as she lost the opening game to her opponent from Maharashtra by a narrow margin 23-21. Gathering her wits, the sixth-seeded shuttler roared back in the next game to clinch it 21-19 and took the match to the decider.

In the third game, Vaishnavi matched Ritika, the fourth seed, stroke for stroke to win 21-18 and with it, won the match and cemented her spot in the semifinals.

In the girls under-13 singles quarterfinals, Samiya Farooqui Imad thumped state girl Tanya Hemanth 21-9, 21-11 and Bhargavi K. outplayed Andhra Pradesh’s Aditi Bhatt 17-21, 2114, 21-18.

In the boys under-13 singles quarters, Andhra Pradesh’s Arshad Shaik thumped Maharashtra’s Varun Dave 21-15, 21-13 and another Andhra player, Khajamoinuddin Shaik, went down fighting to Uttarakhand’s Chayanit Joshi 17-21, 21-14, 21-11 in three games.