Ashmita, Gayatri and five other Indians enter badminton finals at 13th South Asian Games 

Indian shuttlers Ashmita Chaliha and Gayatri Gopichand registered convincing victories in their respective semi-finals on Thursday to set up an all-Indian summit clash in the women’s singles category at the 13th South Asian Games here in Pokhara, Nepal.

While, top-seed Ashmita thrashed her Sri Lankan opponent Achini Ratnasiri 21-5, 21-7, Gayatri also had an easy task against Dilmi Dias of Sri Lanka during a 21-17, 21-14 win.Men singles semi-finals also saw India’s dominance as Aryaman Tondon and Siril Verma set up final against each other after winning their semi-final matches.

Top-seeded Siril beat Sri Lanka’s Dinuka Karunaratne 21-9, 21-12 in straight sets.However, Aryaman had to fight hard during his 21-18, 14-21, 21-18 win against second seed Nepal’s Ratnajith Tamang.

In the men’s doubles semi-final, Krishna Garaga and Dhruv Kapila notched up an easy 21-15, 21-7 win against Pakistani pair of Mohommed Atique and Raja Mohommed Hasnin. The Indian pair will now face Sri Lanka’s S Dias Angoda Vidanalage and B Tharindu Dullew, who beat Nepal’s Prince Dahal and P Maharajan 21-11, 21-19, in the final.

However, India’s challenge came to an end in the women’s double category after both the pairs, Kuhoo Garg-Anoushka Parikh and Meghana Jakkampudi-N Sikki Reddy, lost in the last-4 clash. Khoo Garg and Anoushka went down fighting against Sri Lanka Achini Ratnasiri and Upuli Samanthika Weerasinghe 21-10, 21-18 while Meghana and Sikki Reddy lost to top-seeded Sri Lankan pair of Thilini Hendehewa-K Sirimannage 21-14, 21-18.

In the mixed-doubles, Dhruv and Meghana entered final after the top-seeded Indian pair beat Nepal’s Bikash Shresta and Anu Maya Rai 21-14, 21-13.

All the final matches will take place on Friday.