Young shuttlers Malvika Bansod and Asmita Chaliha continued their impressive run to book their place in the semi-finals of the Odisha Open badminton tournament. Malvika, who lost to PV Sindhu in the final of the Syed Modi International, defeated compatriot Tanya Hemant 21-13, 16-21, 21-17 in a match that lasted 58 minutes.
Malvika, who defeated her idol Saina Nehwal at the India Open earlier in the month, is now set to take on Unnati Hooda. Unnati had dismissed Samia Imad Faruqui 21-10, 21-15 in 26 minutes. The fifth-seeded Asmita defeated Rucha Sawant 21-17, 21-15. She will now face compatriot Samit, who has defeated Ishika Jaiswal of the United States 8-21, 21-9, 21-14 in 50 minutes.
George made mascot a victim of reversal: Unseeded Kiran George has made it to the last-four by making third seed Shubhankar Dey a victim of reversals 21-16, 10-21, 21-19 in 54 minutes. Shubhankar was the last ranked player left in the men's singles event. The 21-year-old George will face Ansal Yadav, who has beaten Tharun Manepalli 21-15, 23-21 in 38 minutes. Mithun Manjunath, who had knocked out 7th-ranked Malaysia's Chim Jun Wei, lost 21-13 14-21 8-21 in 51 minutes to compatriot Prinyashu Rajawat.
Priyanshu will now play Kaushal who defeated Abhyesh Singh 14-21, 21-18, 21-18. In the mixed doubles, the pairs of M R Arjun and Trisha Jolly, Balekesari Yadav and Shwetaparna Panda and Mauryan Kathirewan and Kuham Balashree advanced to the semi-finals. In the women's doubles, the duo of Gayatri Gopichand and Trisha also defeated Vaishnavi and Ellora 21-7, 21-3 in 18 minutes to advance to the last four.
Aditi's stellar performance in the Gainbridge LPGA tournament
