Cuttack: Odisha teenager Swetaparna Panda and her partner Balkeshari Yadav hardly broke sweat en route to the mixed doubles semifinals of the Odisha Open BWF Super 100 tournament on Friday.
Swetaparna and Balkeshari, who had to fight tooth and nail in the second round, were the far superior team in the last-eight clash. They always had their nose in front and took just 25 minutes to win 21-12, 21-12.
They will face fellow-Indians MR Arjun and Treesa Jolly for a place in the title round on Saturday.
The 16-year-old Swetaparna will be the first shuttler from Odisha to feature in a BWF Super 100 semifinal.
Gopichand’s Daughter In Last 4 Of Women’s Doubles:
In women’s doubles, national coach Pullela Gopichand’s daughter Gayathri and Treesa Jolly breezed into the last four conceding just 10 points to Vaishnavi Khadkekar and Ellora Koner.
Men’s third seed Shubhankar Dey bowed out in the quarterfinals, losing 16-21, 21-10, 19-21 to Kiran George in a well-fought duel.
Joining George in the semis was Priyanshu Rajawat, who fought past Mithun Manjunath 13-21, 21-14, 21-8. Kaushal Dharmamer and Ansal Yadav completed the last-four lineup.
In women’s singles, Malvika Bansod prevailed over Tanya Hemanth 21-13, 16-21, 21-17 to enter the semis. Smit Toshniwal ousted the lone non-Indian Ishika Jaiswal (USA) 8-21, 21-9, 21-14, while Unnati Hooda and Ashmita Chaliha won their respective quarterfinal duels in straight games.
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