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After a fabulous show by the Indian badminton contingent that saw them take the gold medals in both the men's and women's team events at the 13th South Asian Games, it's time to focus on the individual events.
Indian shuttlers have picked up from where they left to continue their medal quest in the individual section. Some spirited performances from the young shuttlers on Wednesday assured India of at least eight medals.
Men's and women's singles top seeds Siril Verma and Ashmita Chaliha respectively were on song as they stormed into the last-four stage. Verma, a former World Junior Championships silver medallist, pummelled Pakistan’s Murad Ali 21-12, 21-17 while Assam's rising star Chaliha powered past Pakistan's Palwasha Bashir 21-9, 21-7.
India got two more representatives in the singles semi-finals after both Aryaman Tandon and Gayatri Gopichand made it to the last four. Tandon put up a strong display against Sri Lanka’s Ranthushka Karunathilake, whom he beat 21-17, 21-17. Gopichand, meanwhile, knocked out Pakistan’s second seed Mahoor Shahzad 21-15, 21-16 to confirm a medal for herself.
On Thursday, the semi-finals will get underway at 10 am local time with the top-seeded Chaliha taking on Sri Lanka's Achini Nimeshika Ratnasiri Kapuru Mudiyanselage on Court 1. Simultaneously on Court 2, Gayatri Gopichand will be in action against Dilmi Dias of Sri Lanka as she looks to enter the South Asian Games final for the first time.
The Court 2 match will be followed by men's doubles where India's Dhruv Kapila and Krishna Prasad Garaga will contest with Pakistan's Mohommed Atique and Raja Mohommed Hasnin.
The third slot has women's doubles where the pairs of Kuhoo Garg-Anoushka Parikh and Sikki Reddy-Meghana Jakkampudi will hope to set up an all-Indian final.
Next will be the men's singles matches, where India's Siril Verma and Aryaman Tandon will aim to meet each other in the summit clash.
The last matches of the day will be mixed doubles, where India's Kapila and Jakkampudi are the top seeds and will take on Nepal's Bikash Shresta and Anu Maya Rai.
