Malvika Bansod survives Tanya Hemanth’s scare to reach Odisha Open semis; Ashmita, Unnati, Smit in last 4

Malvika Bansod survived a big scare from her young Indian compatriot Tanya Hemanth to enter the Odisha Open semifinals at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack on Friday.

In-form Malvika needed to stretch herself fully to get the better of Karnataka teenager Tanya Hemanth in an exciting women’s singles quarterfinal of the BWF World Tour Super 100 tournament.

World No. 67 Malvika edged out 18-year-old Tanya 21-13, 16-21, 21-17 in a nail-biting 58-minute encounter to make it to the last-4 in successive tournaments.

Nagpur shuttler Malvika, who lost to PV Sindhu in the Syed Modi tournament final last week in Lucknow, had a shaky start in the first game. World No. 126 Tanya went all out from the start as she had nothing to lose against Malvika.

Bengaluru teenager Tanya was leading 5-1 before Malvika regrouped herself to take 1a 11-7 lead at the break. Southpaw Malvika maintained her lead to close the first game at 21-13.

Malvika, who shot into the limelight after stunning her idol Saina Nehwal in the Indian Open second round in New Delhi earlier this month, began well in the second game too.

Malvika had a couple of points cushioned at the break (11-9) before she started losing her grip. Tanya changed gears and caught up with Malvika soon after the resumption.

Once she took the lead, Tanya grew in confidence and pocketed the second game 21-16 to force the decider.

Malvika reels off six successive points to shatter Tanya’s hopes of an upset

The third and deciding game was a thrilling affair. Both Malvika and Tanya fought gallantly for each and every point.

After 10-all, Tanya took a slender lead (11-10) at the break. The mandatory change of ends in the decider changed Malvika’s fortunes.

Malvika was in a spot of bother for a brief period when Tanya raced slightly ahead (16-15). At that stage it looked like the fast-rising Bengaluru girl would make an upset.

However, Malvika stayed calm in trying circumstances and reeled off six successive points to seal the fate of Tanya.

Malvika will now clash with another upcoming teenager, Unnati Hooda, on Saturday for a spot in the summit clash.

Haryana’s Unnati Hooda dismissed Hyderabad teenager Samiya Imad Farooqui 21-10, 21-15 after just 26 minutes.

The second semifinal will be played between fifth seed Ashmita Chaliha and Smit Toshniwal.

Kaushal Dharmamer, Priyanshu Rajawat, Kiran George and Ansal Yadav in men’s singles semis

Kaushal Dharmamer, Priyanshu Rajawat, Kiran George and Ansal Yadav stormed into the men’s singles semis after registering contrasting wins in their respective quarters.

Mumbai left-handed shuttler Kaushal Dharmamer will cross swords with Priyanshu Rajawat of Madhya Pradesh, while Kiran George will face Ansal Yadav.

Unseeded Kiran George stunned third seed Subhankar Dey 21-16, 10-21, 21-19 in 54 minutes.

In another marathon encounter, Kaushal Dharmamer rallied back strongly to stop Abhyansh Singh 14-21, 21-18, 21-18.

Indian Results (Quarterfinals)

Men’s singles

Kiran George bt 3-Subhankar Dey 21-16, 10-21, 21-19 (54 minutes)

Priyanshu Rajawat bt Mithun Manjunath 13-21, 21-14, 21-8 (51 minutes)

Kaushal Dharmamer bt Abhyansh Singh 14-21, 21-18, 21-18 (51 minutes)

Ansal Yadav bt Tharun Mannepalli 21-15, 23-21 (38 minutes)

Women’s singles

5-Ashmita Chaliha bt Rhucha Sawant 21-17, 21-15 (27 minutes)

Malvika Bansod bt Tanya Hemanth 21-13, 16-21, 21-17 (58 minutes)

Unnati Hooda bt Samiya Imad Farooqui 21-10, 21-15 (26 minutes)

Smit Toshniwal bt Ishika Jaiswal (USA) 8-21, 21-9, 21-14 (49 minutes)

Men’s doubles

Ravikrishna PS-Sankar Prasad Udayakuar bt Shyam Prasad-S Sunjith (Jr) 21-18, 21-18 (34 minutes)

8-Tushar Sharma-Vinay Kumar Singh lost to Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub Azriyn-Lim Khim Wah (Malaysia) 18-21, 16-21 (27 minutes)

5-Krishna Prasad G-Vishnuvardhan Goud P lost to Sachin Dias-Buwaneka Goonethilleka (Sri Lanka) 23-21, 17-21, 15-21 (53 minutes)

Women’s doubles

5-Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand Pullela bt Vaishnavi Khadekar-Ellora Koner 21-7, 21-3 (18 minutes)

Sanyogita Ghorpade-Shruti Mishra bt Atmajayita Ray Barman-Samiaa Shah 21-5, 21-7 (18 minutes)

Arul Bala Radhakrishnan-Nila Valluvan bt Rudrani Jaiswal-Jamaludeen Anees Kowsar 21-11, 21-3 (21 minutes)

Palak Arora-Unnati Hooda lost to Srivedya Gurazada-Ishika Jaiswal 8-21, 21-16, 14-21 (42 minutes)

Mixed doubles

MR Arjun-Treesa Jolly bt Nazeer Khan Abu Bakkar-Nila Valluvan 21-12, 21-7 (19 minutes)

S Sunjith (Jr)-Mehreen Riza lost to Sachin Dias-Thilini Hendahewa (Sri Lanka) 11-21, 20-22 (28 minutes)

Balkeshari Yadav-Swetaparna Panda bt Rahul Kumar Shah-Rudrani Jaiswal 21-12, 21-12 (25 minutes).

Semifinal line-up

Men’s singles

Kaushal Dharmamer vs Priyanshu Rajawat

Kiran George vs Ansal Yadav

Women’s singles

5-Ashmita Chaliha vs Smit Toshniwal

Malvika Bansod vs Unnati Hooda

Men’s doubles

Vasantha Kumar HR-Ashith Surya vs Ravikrishna PS-Sankar Prasad U

Women’s doubles

5-Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand Pullela vs Arul Bala R-Nila Valluvan

8-Sanyogita Ghorpade-Shruti Mishra vs Srivedya Gurazada-Ishika Jaiswal

Mixed doubles

MR Arjun-Treesa Jolly vs Balkeshari Yadav-Swetaparna Panda

Mauryan Kathiravan-Kuhan Balashri vs Sachin Dias-Thilini Hendahewa (Sri Lanka).