Lucknow: Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei and Amelia Alicia Anscelly/Soong Fie Cho have ignited the excitement of Malaysian women’s badminton on Saturday when both pairs advanced to the India Masters women’s doubles final.
Top seeds Vivian Hoo/Woon Khe Wei overcame a challenge by third seeds Puttita Supajirakul/Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand to move into the women’s doubles final of India Masters with a 12-21, 21-16, 21-13 victory in 57 minutes.
Amelia Alicia Anscelly/Soong Fie Cho also prevailed in hard-fought semi-final against second seeds Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa of India. The Malaysian pair was pushed hard by the experienced Indian pair before they battled back from 1 set down to register a 21-16,19-21,21-13 victory in a 3-set thriller.
In the men’s singles, World No 5 K. Srikanth also continued his rampaging form and entered the finals for the second successive time with a hard-fought victory over compatriot H. S Prannoy, who had clinched the Indonesia Masters last year. The top seed Indian dropped the opening game before beating Prannoy 12-21, 21-12, 21-14 in a match that lasted for an hour and four minutes. Srikanth will take on third seed compatriot Parupalli Kashyap in the final, who rallied to beat Denmark’s second seed Viktor Axelsen 18-21 22-20 21-7.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal was now one step away from retaining her women’s singles title as she disposed off fourth seed Nichaon Jindapon of Thailand 21-10 21-16 in the semifinal at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.
Saina will take on Spanish second seed and reigning World Champion Carolina Marin, who dispatched Indian shuttler P.V Sindhu 21-13, 21-13 in her semifinal, which lasted 38 minutes.
Danish pair of Mathias Boe/Carsten Mogensen and Vladimir Ivanov/Ivan Sozonov from Russia will meet for the men’s doubles title on Sunday; while Riky Widianto/Puspita Richi Dili of Indonesia set a mixed doubles final clash with Manu Attri/K. Maneesha of India after both came through the semi-finals on Saturday.
The India Masters semifinal results:
Men’s Singles:
3-Parupalli Kashyap bt 2-Viktor Axelsen (Den) 18-21, 22-20, 21-7; 1-K. Srikanth bt 4-H.S. Prannoy 12-21, 21-12, 21-14.
Men’s Doubles:
4-Vladimir Ivanov & Ivan Sozonov (Rus) bt 5-Manu Attri & B. Sumeeth Reddy 21-12, 21-18; 1-Mathias Boe & Carsten Mogensen (Den) bt 6-Pranaav Chopra & Akshay Dewalkar 21-10, 21-13.
Women’s Singles:
1-Saina Nehwal bt 4-Nichaon Jindapon (Tha) 21-10, 21-16; 2-Carolina Marin (Esp) bt 3-P.V. Sindhu 21-13, 21-13.
Women’s Doubles:
1-Vivian Kah Mun Hoo & Khe Wei Woon (Mas) bt 3-Puttita Supajirakul & Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) 12-21, 21-16, 21-13; 4-Amelia Alicia Anscelly & Fie Cho Soong (Mas) bt 2-G. Jwala & Ashwini Ponnappa 21-16, 19-21, 21-13.
Mixed Doubles:
1-Riky Widianto & Puspita Richi Dili (Ina) bt 4-Peng Soon Chan & Pei Jing Lai (Mas) 21-16, 21-12; Manu Attri & K. Maneesha bt 3-Evgenij Dremin & Evgenia Dimova (Rus) 24-22, 21-19.
