Lucknow, Nov 28 (IANS) Giant-killer Tanvi Sharma continued her dream run by reaching the semifinals of the Syed Modi International Super 300 badminton tournament, while it was a mixed day for the women and men top seeds as India’s Unnati Hooda registered a hard-fought win, and Jai Heng Jason Teh of Singapore was knocked out in the quarterfinals.
The 16-year-old Tanvi Sharma, who had upset former world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the earlier round, packed off Hong Kong’s Lo Sin Yan Happy in straight games 21-13, 21-19 in 38 minutes to set up a last four clash against 5th seed Hina Akechi of Japan, who upset third seed Sung Shuo Yun 21-8, 21-15 in the other quarterfinal.
In the upper half, Unnati came through in a battle of two rising stars of India as he got the better of Rakshitha Sree Santosh R. 21-15, 13-21, 21-16. She will next face Turkey’s fourth seed Neslihan Arin in the semifinals. Arin overcame the challenge of India’s Isharani Baruah 21-19, 13-21, 21-15.
While Unnati survived, men’s top seed Teh went down 19-21, 21-12, 20-22 in an hour and five minutes against Minoru Koga of Japan, who will now meet Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan in the semifinals. The other semi-final will be an all-Indian affair with fifth seed Kidambi Srikanth taking on Mithun Manjunath.
Srikanth advanced to the semifinals after compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat retired when the score was 21-14, 11-4 in the former world No. 1’s favour, while Mithun got the better of Manraj Singh 21-18, 21-13.
In the women’s doubles event, top seeds Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly defeated fifth seeds Bengisu Ercetin and Nazlican Inci of Turkey 21-15, 21-16 to reach the semifinals.
Treesa will also feature in the mixed doubles semifinal alongside Hariharan Amsakarunan after defeating Australia’s Andika Ramadiansyah and Nozomi Shimizu 21-18, 21-14 in the quarterfinals.
Earlier, the 16-year-old Tanvi lit up Day 3 with a career-defining victory, shocking former World No. 1, former World Champion and Olympic medalist Nozomi Okuhara in a gripping three-game battle. The World Juniors silver medalist showed remarkable grit, rallying from a game down to claim a memorable 13-21, 21-16, 21-19 win in just under an hour—the biggest result of her young career, sealing her place in the quarterfinals.
–IANS
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