Sports
Sindhu, Pranaav-Sikki enter India Open semis; Saina exits
New Delhi, Feb 2 (IANS) India managed to grab only two spots in the semi-finals of the India Open BWF World Tour 500, with only women’s singles star P.V. Sindhu and the mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N. Sikki Reddy crossing the quarter-finals stage here on Friday.
London Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, and the sixth seeded women’s doubles pair of N. Sikki and Ashwini Ponnappa were among the six Indian quarter-finalists who bowed out in the last eight stage at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.
Defending champion Sindhu got the better of Spanish 8th seed Beatriz Corrales 21-12, 19-21, 21-11 in 54 minutes to set-up a clash against former World champion Ratchanok Intanon, who got past Hong Kong’s 7th seed Yip Pui Yin 21-11, 21-11.
Hong Kong’s sixth seed Cheung Ngan Yi registered an upset 21-12, 21-19 victory over reigning Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain.
In the semi-final, Chenung will meet US’ fifth seed Beiwen Zhang, who tamed two-time World Championship medallist Saina 21-10, 21-13 in 32 minutes.
Pranaav-Sikki thrashed Chinese Han Chengkai and Cao Tong Wei 21-8, 21-13 to storm into the semi-finals, where they will meet Danish fifth seeds Mathias Christiansen and Christinna Pedersen.
The Dane pair won 21-17, 21-11 over Indians Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa.
India’s three men’s singles player, Parupalli Kashyap, Sameer Verma and B. Sai Praneeth all lost on the day.
Kashyap fell to Chinese Qiao Bin, who won 21-16, 21-18, while Sameer lost to Malaysian Iskandar Zulkarnain 17-21, 14-21. Praneeth was a 15-21, 13-21 loser to Chinese Taipei’s third seed Chou Tien Chen.
In the men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy fought hard before bowing out to the Indonesian top-seeds Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo with a 19-21, 19-21 defeat.
India’s sixth seeded women’s doubles pair of sikki and Ashwini lost to Chinese Du Yue and Li Yinhui 17-21, 21-23.
India’s women’s doubles seventh seeds Jakkampudi Meghana and Poorvisha S. Ram were conquered by Thai second seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai, who won 21-10, 21-15 in 30 minutes.
–IANS
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The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.
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