Shuttlers sparkle; football team enters semis

In the men’s singles, top seed Chetan Anand got the better of Mohammad Rais Uddin of Bangladesh 21-19, 21-10 to set up a last-four clash with Dinuka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka.

Second-seeded RMV Guru Sai Dutt lived up to his reputation, beating Lanka’s nine-time national champion Niluka Karunaratne 21-12, 21-13.
He will take on Pakistan’s Ahsan Qamar in the semifinals. In the women’s singles event, top-seeded Sayali Gokhale beat Achini Ratnasiri or Sri Lanka 21-13, 23-21 to set up a semifinal battle with Palwasha Bashir of Pakistan.

National champion and secon seed Trupti Murgunde defeated Sara Devi Tamang of Nepal 21-7, 21-15 to set up a last-four battle against Thilini Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka. In the women’s doubles, top-seeded duo of Aparna Balan and Shruti Kurien thrashed Pooja Shrestha and Sara Devi Tamang of Nepal 21-8, 21-8. PC Thulasi and Ashwini Ponnappa beat Sujana Shrestha and Nangsal Tamang of Nepal 21-4, 21-7 to set up a semifinal clash against Renu C Hettiarachchige and Nadeesha M Gayanthi of Sri Lanka.

In the men’s doubles, top seeded KT Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas beat Mohammad Ajfaan Rasheed and Hassan Afsheen Shaheem of Maldives 21-11, 21-11. They will take on Azam Rizwan and Kasif Sulehri of Pakistan in the last four clash.
Second seeds Anand and V Diju beat Jamil Ahmed Dulal and Mohammad Anamul Haque of Bangladesh 21-7, 21-12. In the mixed doubles, Aparna Balan and Sanave Thomas beat Pooja Shrestha/ Ratnajit Tamang of Nepal 21-4, 21-4 while Ashwini Ponnappa and Diju Valiyaveetil beat Pakistan’s Palwasha Bashir and Rizwan Azam 21-10, 21-9.
India rode on a three goal effort from Lalpekhula Jeje to thrash arch-rivals Pakistan 5-1 and make it to the semifinal of the men’s football event at MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong on Tuesday.

Lalrindika Ralte and Tirthankar Sarkar netted a goal apiece while Rizwan’s restored some pride for Pakistan.