Lucknow, 30 November (HS). PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen maintained the Indian challenge in singles at the Syed Modi India International HSBC World Tour Super 300 Badminton Championships and secured a place in the final. In the championship with a prize money of US $ 2,10,000, organized by the Uttar Pradesh Badminton Association under the auspices of the Badminton Association of India (BAI), India’s Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto, seeded fifth in the mixed doubles, and India’s Sai Prateek and Prithvi Krishnamurthy in the men’s doubles, In women’s doubles, second seeded India’s Trisha Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela also reached the final.
In the women’s singles semi-finals, PV Sindhu defeated compatriot Unnati Hooda 21-12, 21-9 in a match that lasted 36 minutes. PV Sindhu maintained a steady lead in the first game and scored game point at 20-11. However, due to official review on the very next service, Unnati saved the game point. Still Sindhu scored points easily. In the second game, world number 70 Unnati Hooda tried to challenge world number 18 PV Sindhu, but PV Sindhu made full use of her height and experience. They had taken a lead of 6-1, but Unnati again scored two points. However, Sindhu won the game thanks to her powerful smashes and court coverage.
World champion and Olympic silver and bronze medalist PV Sindhu has previously won Modi badminton in 2017 and 2022 and is one win away from her third title in Lucknow. Unnati on the other hand has been the winner of Odisha Open in 2022 and Abu Dhabi Masters Final in 2023 o India International Challenge. PV Sindhu will now face China’s Wu Luo Yu in the final, who defeated Thailand’s Lalinrat Chaiwan 21-19, 21-12. After the match, Sindhu said about Unnati that she is very talented and more good performance is expected from her in the future. My confidence has increased as my game has improved match by match. Now my focus is on giving my best performance tomorrow.
During this match, PV Sindhu’s father, former Indian volleyball player Arjun Awardee PV Ramana, sat in the audience and encouraged his daughter. In the men’s singles semi-finals, top seed Lakshya Sen of India defeated Shogo Ogawa of Japan 21-8, 21-14 in a match that lasted 42 minutes. In the first game, Lakshya Sen, ranked 14th in the world, put pressure on his opponent. In the second game, Lakshya had led 11-4 at the break. At the same time, the 68th ranked Japanese player scored points with fast service but here too the goals cost him a lot. Commonwealth Games 2022 gold winner and World Championships 2021 bronze winner Lakshya Sen played his last final at the Canada Open 2023 and he has now reached the final. Lakshya will face fourth seed Jia Heng Jason Teh of Singapore in the final.
In women’s doubles, second seeds Trisha Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela of India defeated third seeds Benyappa Amsard and Nuntakarn Amsard of Thailand 18-21, 21-18, 21-10 in a match that lasted one hour and three minutes. The pair of Trisha and Gayatri, who have qualified for the BWF World Tour Finals, are now eyeing to become the first women’s doubles winner in the Modi Badminton Tournament. In the second semi-final, top seeds Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto of India, the runners-up of the previous edition, lost in a three-game match. They were defeated by China’s Bao Li Jing and Li Qian 14-21, 21-16, 21-13. In the mixed doubles semi-finals, fifth seeds Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto of India defeated China’s fourth seeds Zhou Ji Hong and Jia Yi 21-21. Defeated -16, 21-15. Now in front of Dhruv and Tanisha will be sixth seeded D. Puwaranukroh and Supisara Pevasampran of Thailand. In men’s doubles, India’s Sai Prateek and Prithvi Krishnamurthy K. Rai defeated India’s Ishan Bhatnagar and Shankar Prasad Udayakumar 21-17, 17-21, 21-16. Sai Prateek and Prithvi will now face China’s Huang Di and Liu Yang in the finals.
Hindustan News / Upendra Nath Rai
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