Meiraba, Priyanshu, Sathish, Aadya storm into Ukraine International Series badminton semis

In-form Maisnam Meiraba, Priyanshu Rajawat, K Sathish Kumar and Aadya Variyath stormed into the semi-finals at the Victor Ukraine International Series badminton tournament in Kharkiv on Thursday.

The four-day tournament is being organized by the Badminton Federation of Ukraine under the auspices of Badminton World Federation.

All four unseeded Indian players, Maisnam Meiraba, Priyanshu Rajawat, Sathish Kumar and Aadya Variyath dominated the penultimate day of the competition with a sterling display.

Priyanshu Rajawat set up an all-India men’s singles semi-final with Meiraba. Sathish Kumar will clash with Ong Ken Yon of Malaysia in the other semis. Out of four, three Indian players are in the men’s singles semis.

Aadya kept the Indian challenge alive in the women’s section by entering the singles semis. Aadya Variyath will lock horns with Polina Buhrova of Ukraine on Friday.

Second seed Malvika Bansod loses to Polina of Ukraine

The local giants stunned second seed Malvika Bansod in an exciting women’s singles quarter-finals. Southpaw Malvika went down against unseeded Polina Buhrova 15-21, 21-5, 14-21 in 50 minutes.

Earlier in the pre-quarters, Polina accounted for another teenage Indian shuttler, Kriti Bharadwaj.

Maisnam Meiraba (L) and K Sathish Kumar also made it to the semis in the men's singles

Bokka Navaneeth and Ritika Thaker started the day in a grand manner by toppling the top seeds but lost to Danylo Bosniuk and Yevgeniya Paksyutova of Ukraine. Navaneeth and Ritika, the new Indian combination, lost narrowly 29-30, 12-21 in the quarters.

Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Pratheek K will face Loo Bing Kun and Lwi Sheng Hao of Malaysia in the men’s doubles semis.

Other Indian duo Ravikrishna PS and Sankar Prasad Udayakumar also made it to the last four and will square off against Malaysian pair Junaidi Arif and Muhammad Haikal.

Aadya Variyath lone women's singles semi-finalist for India

Indian Results

(Pre-quarterfinals)

Men’s singles

Meiraba Luwang Maisnam bt 2-Chirag Sen 21-12, 21-9 (24 minutes)

Priyanshu Rajawat bt Lee Shun Yang (Malaysia) 21-16, 21-19 (36 minutes)

Sathish Kumar Karunakaran bt 8-Ivan Rusev (Bulgaria) 19-21, 21-18, 21-15 (80 minutes)

Kevin Arokia Walter bt 7-Fabio Caponio (Italy) 21-19, 21-13 (38 minutes)

Rohan Gurbani lost to Kyrylo Leonov (Ukraine) 21-17, 18-21, 19-21 (58 minutes)

3-Mithun Manjunath lost to Jia Heng Jason Teh (Singapore) 18-21, 13-21 (43 minutes)

Women’s singles

2-Malvika Bansod bt Anupama Upadhyaya 21-16, 21-8 (33 minutes)

Aadya Variyath bt 5-Ira Sharma 21-15, 21-17 (39 minutes)

Kriti Bharadwaj lost to Polina Buhrova (Ukraine) 18-21, 6-21 (31 minutes)

Keyura Mopati lost to Dounia Pelupessy (Switzerland) 14-21, 14-21 (31 minutes)

Men’s doubles

Ishaan Bhatnagar-Sai Pratheek K bt Malik Bourakkadi-Johannes Pistorius (Germany) 21-19, 21-11 (33 minutes)

Ravikrishna PS-Sankar Prasad Udayakumar bt Muhammad Nurfirdaus Azman-Roy King Yap (Malaysia) 21-14, 14-21, 21-16 (52 minutes)

Kushal Raj-Prakash Raj lost to Junaidi Arif-Muhammad Haikal (Malaysia) 18-21, 13-21 (24 minutes)

Women’s doubles

4-Simran Singhi-Ritika Thaker lost to Mariia Stoliarenko-Yelyzaveta Zharka (Ukraine) 21-13, 19-21, 13-21 (57 minutes)

Mixed doubles

Bokka Navaneeth-Ritika Thaker bt 1-Patrick Scheiel-Franziska Volkmann (Germany) 21-16, 21-15 (28 minutes)

Ishaan Bhatnagar-Tanisha Crasto bt Vitaliy Reva-Yana Sobko (Ukraine) 21-16, 21-14 (31 minutes)

(Quarter-finals)

Men’s singles

Meiraba Luwang Maisnam bt Kevin Arokia Walter 21-14, 21-10 (27 minutes)

Priyanshu Rajawat bt 6-Danylo Bosniuk (Ukraine) 21-16, 21-19 (41 minutes)

Sathish Kumar Karunakaran bt Jia Heng Jason Teh (Singapore) 15-21, 21-17, 21-10 (59 minutes)

Women’s singles

Aadya Variyath bt 4-Agnes Korosi (Hungary) 21-19, 17-21, 21-16 (60 minutes)

2-Malvika Bansod lost to Polina Buhrova (Ukraine) 15-21, 21-5, 14-21 (50 minutes)

Mixed doubles

Bokka Navaneeth-Ritika Thaker lost to Danylo Bosniuk-Yevgeniya Paksyutova (Ukraine) 29-30, 12-21 (34 minutes)

Ishaan Bhatnagar-Tanisha Crasto lost to Roy King Yap-Valeree Siow (Malaysia) 22-24, 22-20, 17-21 (61 minutes)

Men’s doubles

Ishaan Bhatnagar-Sai Pratheek K bt Eloi Adam-Kenji Lovang (France) 21-17, 21-18 (34 minutes)

Ravikrishna PS-Sankar Prasad Udayakumar bt Daniel Hess-Jan Colin Völker (Germany) 21-18, 21-15 (36 minutes)

Semi-final line-up

Men’s singles

Priyanshu Rajawat vs Meiraba Luwang Maisnam

Sathish Kumar Karunakaran vs Ong Ken Yon (Malaysia)

Women’s singles

Aadya Variyath vs Polina Buhrova (Ukraine)

Men’s doubles

Ishaan Bhatnagar-Sai Pratheek K vs Loo Bing Kun-Lwi Sheng Hao (Malaysia)

Ravikrishna PS-Sankar Prasad Udayakumar vs Junaidi Arif-Muhammad Haikal (Malaysia).