Akashraj, Apeksha in semifinals

Top seeds Akashraj Murthy and Apeksha Nayak reached the under-17 boys’ and girls’ semifinals respectively in the Chettinad Cement Sadashivanagar 5-Star State-ranking badminton tournament here on Monday.

Akashraj of National Games Village edged out eighth seed Shankara Narayana of Reliance 21-16, 17-21, 21-14 while Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy’ Apeksha outclassed Prathiksha Prakash of Mangalore 21-13, 21-9 in their respective quarterfinal matches.

Results (prefix denotes seeding): Boys: U-19 (quarterfinals): 1-Sankeerth B R (NGV) bt Chethan Raj (Mangalore) 21-15, 21-17; Mithun Manjunath (WPBA) bt Mahesh Kumar D (BCI) 21-19, 21-12; 7-Kiran M (BBCE) bt Manish Jain (WPBA) 21-15, 21-17; Harshit Aggarwal (NGV) bt Hemanth Gowda N (SAI) 21-14, 21-16.

U-17 (quarterfinals): 1-Akashraj Murthy (NGV) bt 8-Shankara Narayana (Reliance) 21-16, 17-21, 21-14; Glanish Ashley Pinto (Metcut) bt Anirudh Deshpande (WPBA) 21-19, 19-21, 21-16; 4-Mithun Manjunath (WPBA) bt Tejaswi Sagar (WPBA) 21-19, 21-8; 2-Sankeerth B R (NGV) bt Vishnuh R Paura (Reliance) 21-6, 21-10.

Doubles (semifinals): 1-Akashraj Murthy (NGV)/ Siddharth E S (HBCC) bt 3-Abhilash B/ Rahul B Prasad (BBCE) 21-8, 21-7.

U-15 (quarterfinals): Saif Ali (BBCE) bt 7-Nikhit Laxman (WPBA) 21-17, 21-18; 3-Shantanu B S (PPBA) bt Abi Amudhan S (Mysore) 21-16, 21-13; 4-Akshay Srinivas S (NGV) bt 5-Kevin M L (HBCC) 21-12, 21-9; 2-Rahul Bhardhvaj B M (PPBA) bt Avinash S (Reliance) 21-10, 21-5.

U-13 (quarterfinals): 1-Rohit M (WPBA) bt 5-Shashank Reddy V (Sunray’s) 21-9, 21-19; 4-Ajinkya Joshi (Belgavi) bt 8-Srikar Rajesh (WPBA) 21-9, 21-14; 3-Kartik Vyakaranam (JPN) bt Rohit Krishna (WPBA) 15-21, 21-13, 21-15; 2-Tejas Sanjay Kallolkar (Belgavi) bt 6-Chinmaya Venkatesh (WPBA) 21-10, 21-14.

Girls: U-17 (quarterfinals): 1-Apeksha Nayak (PPBA) bt Prathiksha Prakash (Mangalore) 21-13, 21-9; 4-Reenu Tirumal (HHBA) bt 8-Mithali Shashidhar (WPBA) 21-13, 21-9;  3-Savita R N (WPBA) bt 7-Prasamsha Bhandary (Mangalore) 21-13, 21-13; 2-Archana Pai (PPBA) bt 6-Poojashree (HHBA) 21-7, 21-1.

U-15 (pre-quarterfinals): 1-Archana Pai (PPBA) bt Nanditha Ravi (BBCE) 21-1, 21-3; 8-Prarthana Vasudevan (NGV) w/o Glancia Ashma Pinto (Metcut); 4-Sarayu Vyakaranam (JPN) bt Mithali Shashidhar (WPBA) 21-16, 21-14; Sheetal Sudarshan (CUCT) bt 6-Sheethal D (PPBA) 21-12, 21-7; 5-Trisha Hegde (PPBA) bt Roshni Venkat (BBCE) 21-4, 21-5; 3-Reenu Tirumal (HHBA) bt Gagana N S (Shimoga) 21-5, 21-9; 7-Shivani A Pathi (I Sports) bt Chaitra Alankar (JPN) 21-10, 21-8; 2-Apeksha Nayak (PPBA) bt Bhavya Krishnan (BBCE) 21-9, 21-15.

U-13 (pre-quarterfinals): 1-Trisha Hegde (PPBA) bt Riya Anilkumar Patke (MMBA) 21-8, 21-10; 6-Deetya Jagadish (NGV) bt Akhila Anand (BSBA) 21-6, 21-15; 4-Drithi Yatheesh (INC) bt Kushi Athreya (NGV) 21-10, 21-12; 5-Richa Muktibodh (Reliance) bt Mahima A (HHBA) 21-2, 21-0; Keerthana Shroff P (INC) bt Roshni Venkat (BBCE) 21-15, 21-10; 3-Sheethal D (PPBA) bt Nikita Ramesh (WPBA) 21-15, 0-2 (retired); 7-Prarthana Vasudevan (NGV) bt Gagana N S (Shimoga) 21-9, 21-15; 2-Shivani A Pathi (I Sports) bt Ramya C V (Bangalore) 21-15, 21-2.