The National champions looked shaky and while men’s top seed K. Srikanth crashed out, women’s No. 1 P.V. Sindhu was forced to slog in the Manorama- Indian Open National-ranking badminton tournament.
A series of tournaments — the Indian Grand Prix in Lucknow ended early this week — had left the stars weary and it showed on a sweaty Saturday at the Rajiv Gandhi indoor stadium. In the end, ONGC’s fifth-seeded H.S. Prannoy, who upset Srikanth in the quarterfinals, staved off a strong challenge from Anand Pawar and entered the men’s final where he will meet Karnataka’s Anup Sridhar.
Meanwhile, world No. 10 Sindhu was forced to three sets in both the quarterfinals and semifinals, by Saili Rane and Sayali Gokhale, before entering the final where she will meet Kerala’s third-seeded P.C. Thulasi.
The results: Men: Singles: Semifinals: H.S. Prannoy (PSPB) bt Anand Pawar (AI) 21-18, 11-21, 21-14; Anup Sridhar (Kar) bt Sourabh Varma (PSPB) 21-16, 21-17.
Quarterfinals: Prannoy bt K. Srikanth (PSPB) 18-21, 21-13, 21-16; Pawar bt Aditya Prakash (Kar) 21-19, 21-15; Sourabh bt Abhimanyu Singh (MP) 21-13, 21-17; Anup Sridhar bt Subhankar Dey (Mah) 21-12, 21-8.
Doubles: Semifinals: Pranaav Jerry Chopra & Akshay Dewalkar bt Rupesh Kumar & Sanave Thomas 21-16, 21-13; Alwin Francis & Arun Vishnu bt K. Nandagopal & Hemanagendra Babu 21-15, 21-14.
Women: Singles: Semifinals: P.V. Sindhu (PSPB) bt Sayali Gokhale (AI) 19-21, 21-19, 21-9; P.C. Thulasi (Ker) bt G. Ruthvika Shivani (AP) 21-19, 21-9.
Quarterfinals: Sindhu bt Saili Rane (AI) 21-18, 12-21, 21-6; Sayali Gokhale bt Rituparna Das (AP) 21-17, 21-13; Thulasi bt Tanvi Lad (AI) 21-9, 21-14; Ruthvika bt Arundhati Pantawane (Mah) 22-20, 21-12.
Doubles: Semifinals: Prajakta Sawant & Arathi Sara Sunil bt Rituparna Das & J. Meghana 21-12, 18-21, 21-15; Aparna Balan & Siki Reddy bt Sanyogita Ghorpade & K. Maneesha 21-12, 21-14.
Mixed doubles: Semifinals: Arun Vishnu & Aparna Balan bt Pranaav Jerry Chopra & K. Maneesha 22-24, 21-18, 21-14; Sanave Thomas & Prajakta Sawant bt K. Nandagoopal & Siki Reddy 21-18, 21-19.
