Nalinikanta Memorial Badminton: Rally for semifinal spots witnesses few upsets

Bhubaneswar: Top-seeded Krishnika Birok of Sundargarh entered women’s singles semifinal of the 4th Nalinikanta Mohanty Memorial State Open Ranking Badminton Tournament by defeating Shreya Biswal of Sambalpur 21-6, 21-9 at East Coast Railway’s Stadium here on Saturday.

Jasmine Sahu of Bhadrak, Shruti Swain of Cuttack and Yashashree Samal of Khurda caused upset in the women’s single quarterfinal rounds by winning over third-seeded Anjuman Dasmohapatra of Angul, fourth-seeded Akanshya Kurrey of Sundargarh and second-seeded Purba Pratyasha Panda of Samablpur by 2-1, 2-0 and 2-0 sets respectively.

In the semifinals, Krishnika and Shruti will face Jasmine and Yeshashree respectively.

Similarly, top-seeded Abhijit Maharana and fourth-seeded Anubhab Sahoo will meet eighth-seeded Swastik Das and second-seeded Amrit Mohanty respectively in the U-15 boys semifinals.

In the U-19 boys quarterfinals, seventh-seeded Aditya Karan Das of Keonjhar caused a upset by defeating top-seeded Aman Debata of Kalahandi 21-12, 21-18 band entered the semifinal.

In the semifinals, Aditya and Asish Kumae Sethi will cross swords with Prajesh Kumar Murmu and Debesh Kumar Panda respectively.