It has been a good performance by the Indian shuttlers at the Russian Open Grand Prix with Ruthvika Shivani Gadde, Siril Verma and the pair of Reddy Nelakurihi and Pranaav Jerry Chopra progressing to the semi-finals of their respective events.
Upcoming young Indian shuttler Ruthvika Shivani Gadde advanced to the semifinals in the women's singles event of the Russian Open Grand Prix. Indian mixed doubles pair of Sikki Reddy Nelakurihi and Pranaav Jerry Chopra also progressed to the semi-finals earlier today.
Also read: Ruthvika Shivani Gadde: The 19-year-old shuttler who pulled off the biggest upset in recent Indian badminton history
The fourth-seeded Ruthvika overcame Russia's Elena Komendrovskaja in the quarter-finals to proceed to the next round. Having lost the first game of the best of three match 13-21, she fought back to win the next two games 21-10 and 21-17.
Ruthvika breaks into the world’s top 50
The entry to the semi-finals has taken Ruthvika, who is ranked 69 in the world, to 25,834 points in the ranking system and based on her ranking from the previous week, she will break into the top 50. She now takes on local favourite Ksenia Polikarpova in the semi-finals of the tournament.
However, Tanvi Lad, who had also featured in the quarter-finals after disposing of Russia’s Ekaterina Kut was knocked out of the Grand Prix. The third seed lost to Evgeniya Kosetskaya and went down 21-10 21-6 in a one-sided encounter.
In the men's singles event, Siril Verma of India qualified for the semi-finals after beating Zulhelmi Zulkiffli of Malaysia in straight sets 21-12 21-18. The Indian has now been drawn to contest against Russian Anatoliy Yartsev in the semi-finals. Verma too got a boost in his ranking thanks to this performance.
More joy in mixed doubles
The mixed doubles pair of Reddy and Chopra defeated the Russian pairing of Tatjana Bibik and Artem Serpionov 2-0 in the pre-quarters. The scores read 21-19 21-13 in favour of the Indians. The Indian pair won against Aleksandr Vasilkin and Kristina Virvich in the quarters as they eased past the Russian pair 21-10 21-8. They will now face the winners of the last quarter-final of the day A. Yartsev and E. Kosetskaya .
