Sindhu, Sen enter semifinals of India Open

New Delhi, Jan 14: Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and world championship bronze medallistLakshyaSen registered contrasting wins to advance to the women’s and men’s singles semifinals, respectively, at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open badminton tournament here on Friday.

Top seed Sindhu, a former world champion, got the better of compatriot AshmitaChaliha 21-7 21-18 in 36 minutes, while Sen rallied his way to a hard-fought 14-21 21-9 21-14 victory over H S Prannoy in another all-Indian quarterfinal.

The 26-year-old from Hyderabad set up a women’s singles last four clash with Thailand’s sixth seed SupanidaKatethong, who entered the semifinals after the third-seeded Yeo Jia Min of Singapore pulled out of the tournament due to “high fever”.

Sen, seeded third, will square off against Malaysia’s Ng Tze Yong in the semifinals.

In the other women’s semifinal, AakarshiKashyap will face second-seeded Thai BusananOngbamrungphan after the Indian notched up a 21-12 21-15 win over compatriot MalvikaBansod on Friday.

Busanan trounced USA’s Lauren Lam 21-12 21-8 in another last-eight clash.

Second-seeded men’s doubles pair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and ChiragShetty also entered the semifinals with a 21-18 21-18 win over Singapore’s Hee Yong Kai Terry and Loh Kean Hean.

Haritha Manazhiyil Harinarayan and Ashna Roy also made it to the last four in women’s doubles after beating RudraniJaiswal and JamaludeenAneesKowsar 21-16 21-16 in the quarterfinals.

The last time Sindhu was up against Chaliha, at the 83rd Yonex-Sunrise Senior National Championship in 2019, the youngster from Assam had produced a spirited performance.

On Friday, Chaliha took time to get into the groove and put up a good fight in the second game but couldn’t stop Sindhu from walking away with the match.