Ashmita Chaliha and Aakarshi Kashyap advance to Senior National Badminton semifinals
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With contrasting victories on Sunday, Ashmita Chaliha and Aakarshi Kashyap advanced to the semifinals of the Yonex Sunrise Senior National Badminton event. While Aakarshi beat Devika Sihag 13-21, 21-13, 21-13, Ashmita went in the last four after she overcame Isharani Baruah 21-10, 21-23, 21-16.
Ira Sharma lost to third seed Adita Rao 21-16, 21-15 after previously eliminating eighth seed Aashi Rawat in the third round. Kidambi Srikanth, the second seed in the men's division, and Harsheel Dani, a player from Maharashtra, advanced to the quarterfinals. In the next round, Srikanth will take on Kartikey Gulshan Kumar, who overcame fifth seed Abhishek Saini in the second round after defeating Saneeth DS 21-15 21-20.
Against Sai Charan Koya, Harsheel had a slim 5-2 lead, and he built on it to win the opening game. In the second game, he had an 11-8 advantage, but Sai fought back to tie the score at 18-18. Sai won the second game 21-18 thanks to a pair of fast points at critical moments that allowed him to stay in the game. He was unable to match his performance in the championship game, which Harsheel won 21-14.
Shruti Mundanda and Poorva Barve of Maharashtra were eliminated from the competition after falling to Adita Rao and Akarshi, respectively.
