Indian women’s singles player Malvika Bansod and women’s doubles combination of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto registered contrasting victories to reach the semi-finals of the Guwahati Masters Super 100 tournament on Friday.
The 22-year-old Bansod, the only Indian player left in the singles draw, defeated Malaysia’s Karupathevan Letshanaa 21-12, 21-16.
Ponnappa and Crasto saved four game points in the opening game before getting the better of Indonesia’s Jesita Putri Miantoro and Febi Setianingrum 22-20, 21-16 to make it to the last four stage.
Bansod depended on her strong defence and her ability to engage her opponent in longer rallies in the quarter-final and will now face Thailand’s Lalinrat Chaiwan, who upset third seed Sung Shuo Yun 21-10, 16-21, 21-16, for a place in the final.
In the doubles category, Crasto stayed on course for a double crown as she also reached the mixed doubles semi-finals. Partnered with Dhruv Kapila, the duo defeated Indonesia’s Amri Syahnawi and Winny Kandow 21-16, 21-17 in the quarter-finals.
India will also have a pair in the men’s doubles semi-finals after Hariharan Amsakarunan and R Ruban Kumar upset 6th seeds Kapila and Vishnuvardhan Goud 21-18, 9-21, 21-18 in an all-Indian quarterfinal.
They will now face the Chinese Taipei combination of Lin Bing-Wei and Su Ching Heng for a spot in the final.
However, India’s challenge in men’s singles came to an end after Karthikeyan Gulshan Kumar could not maintain the momentum despite winning the first game and went down 14-21, 21-12, 21-9 in the quarterfinals.
