NAVELIM: Pranav Rao Gandham will clash with Manraj Singh while Unnati Hooda will take on Anupama Upadhyaya in the semi-finals of U-19 boys and girls singles event respectively, at the Yonex Sunrise All India Junior (U19) Ranking Badminton Goa 2022, at Manohar Parrikar indoor stadium here in South Goa on Wednesday evening.
Top-seed Pranav Rao Gandham overcame a stern challenge by 8th seed Ansh Vishal Gupta 21-10, 20-22, 21-14 in a fascinating last-8 tussle that lasted for an hour and 11 minutes.
Having progressed through the qualifying tournament into the Main Draw, Manraj Singh of Haryana looked in a very good touch in his high-voltage quarter-final encounter with the fifth seed Ayush Shetty of Karnataka. Manraj looked in control in the critical stages of the match and capitalised on the errors of the aggressive-minded Ayush, who eventually ran out of steam to go down 21-19, 9-21, 6-21 in one hour and five minutes.
Earlier, Unnati Hooda [6] beat a fighting Gargi of UP 21-13, 21-15 in the girls last-8 stage. Fourth-seed Anupama Upadhyaya got the better of a battling Anmol Kharb 21-18, 21-16 in 47 minutes, to book a semi-final showdown between two of the biggest names in the competition.
In the other quarter-finals, Rakshitha Sree S. [7] beat Tanoo Chandra 21-17 21-8; Devika Sihag [5] beat Neysa Cariappa A. [12] 21-18, 21-13. Amongst the boys last-8 match-ups, Tonmoy Bikash Boruah [4] beat Samarveer 21-17 21-14; Bharat Raghav [2] beat Tushar Suveer 21-15, 21-18.
