Badminton: Srikanth & Co. sail through

K. Srikanth, P. V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal entered the semifinals of badminton open events at the Commonwealth Games on Friday.

Saina Nehwal in action during her women’s singles quarterfinal match on Friday.

Badminton stars K. Srikanth, P. V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal justified their billing by easing through to the semifinals in badminton open events in the XXI Commonwealth Games at the Carrara sports arena here on Thursday.

Day Nine: As it happened

In men’s singles, Srikanth disposed of Zin Rei Rayn (Singapore) without much fuss, defeating him 21-15, 21-12. Sindhu and Saina also won their women’s singles matches easily; Sindhu defeated Canadian Tam Brittney (21-14, 21-17) while Saina overcame Rachel Honderich (also from Canada) 21-8, 21-13.

Ruthvika Gadde, the other Indian entrant in the women’s singles, retired while trailing 5-9 against Kirsty Gilmour (Scotland).

However, National champion H. S. Prannoy was quite ruthless in his win over Dinuka Karunaratna (Sri Lanka) 21-13, 21-6.

• Men’s singles : K. Srikanth bt Zin Rei Ryan (SGP), 21-15, 21-12; H. S. Prannoy bt Dinuka Karunaratna (SL) 21-13, 21-6.
• Men’s Doubles : Satwik Rankireddy/Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty bt Goh Soon Huat/Chan Pang Soon (SGP) 21-14, 15-21, 21-9.
• Women’s singles : P. V. Sindhu bt Tam Brittney (CAN) 21-14, 21-17; Saina Nehwal bt Rachel Honderich (CAN) 21-8, 21-13; Ruthvika Gadde lost to Kirsty Gilmour (SCO) 5-9 (retired).
• Mixed doubles : Pranaav Chopra/Sikki N. Reddy lost to Chan Pang Soon/Coh Liu Ying (MAS) 17-12, 12-21; Satwik Rankireddy/Ashwini Ponnappa bt Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai (MAS) 2-19, 21-19.