PV Sindhu Enters Semis, HS Prannoy Crashes Out Of Syed Modi International

Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu recovered from a game down to earn a hard-fought victory over Thailand’s Supanida Katething to enter the semi-finals of the Syed Modi International Super 300 tournament in Lucknow on Friday. The seeded Indian defeated her Thai rival, seeded sixth in the tournament, 11-21 21-12 21-17 in a quarter-final match that lasted one hour and five minutes. Sindhu will face fifth-seeded Russian Evgeniya Kosetskaya in the semifinals. The other women’s semi-final will be an all-Indian affair between Malvika Bansod and Anupama Upadhyaya, who won their respective quarter-final matches.

Bansod beat his compatriot Aakarshi Kashyap 21-11 21-11 while Upadhyaya beat another Indian Samiya Imad Farooqui 24-22 23-21.

However, in the men’s singles, HS Prannoy was knocked out of the tournament with a straight game loss to Arnaud Merkle of France in the quarterfinals.

The fifth-seeded Indian, a former top 10 player, lost 19-21 16-21 to his French opponent in a 59-minute quarterfinal match.

Mithun Manjunath, however, advanced to the semifinals after beating Russia’s Sergey Sirant 11-21 21-12 21-18 in a quarterfinal match that lasted an hour and a minute.

Manjunath will face Merkle in the semi-finals.

In the men’s doubles, sixth-seeded Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala defeated the duo of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Pratheek 21-17 21-18 in an Indian quarterfinal match.

They will face another Indian pairing of Prem Singh Chouhan and Rajesh Verma in the semi-finals.

In the other men’s doubles quarterfinal match, fourth-seeded Indians MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila defeated the French pairing of Fabien Delrue and William Villeger 21-16 19-21 21-19. They face Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee from Malaysia in the semi-finals.

In the women’s doubles quarterfinals, India’s Ramya Venkatesh Chickmenahalli and Apeksha Nayak conceded a bye to Malaysia’s eight-seeded pair Anna Ching Yik Cheong and Teoh Mei Xing, who will face another Indian pair from Haritha M Harinarayanan and Ashna Roy in the semifinals.

Indian seventh-seeded Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Pullela Gopichand defeated Russian second-seeded Anastasiia Akchurina and Olga Morozova 24-22 21-10 in another women’s doubles quarterfinal match.

The pair from India will face Low Yeen Yuan and Valeree Siow from Malaysia in the semi-finals.

In the mixed doubles event, the Indian pairing of MR Arjun and Treesa Jolly defeated the eight-seeded French duo of William Villeger and Anne Tran 24-22 21-17 in the quarterfinal match that lasted 42 minutes.

Arjun and Jolly will face their compatriots and seventh seeds Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto in the semi-finals. The Bhatnagar-Crasto pairing beat another Indian duo of Ashith Surya and Pranjal Prabhu Chimulkar 21-13 21-19 in the quarterfinals.

The other mixed doubles semifinals will also be an all-Indian affair between the pairs of Akshan Shetty and Simran Singh, and T Hema Nagendra Babu and Srivedya Guruzada.