Title holders Aditya Joshi (Air India) and Rituparna Das (Telangana) led their team to clinch all four semi-final berths of the 39th Junior National Badminton Championship at Pataliputra Sports Complex, here today.
On the penultimate day of the five-day tournament concluding tomorrow, Joshi trounced Rahul Yadav (Telangana) in straight sets by 21-18 and 21-19 in a quarter-final encounter in the Under-19 boys category.
Joshi was joined in semi-finals by his compatriot M Kanishk, who prevailed upon Kaushal Dharmame of Airport Authority of India (AAI) in a three-set cliffhanger by 8-21, 2-20 and 23-21 in another quarterfinal tie.
Chirag Sen (AI) defeated Souvik Ghosh (West Bengal) 21-15, 21-12, while Harshi Dhani (AI) beat Siril Varma (TS) in straight sets by 21-18, 21-13 in remaining two quarterfinals.
In the girls' under-19 category, title holder Rituparna Das (Telangana) stormed into semis defeating Shikha Gautam (Karnataka) by 21-8, 21-18, while her teammate Ruthvika Shivani vanquished Shreyanshi Pardeshi (AI) by 21-19, 21-11 in another quarterfinal.
Vrushali G (Telangana) beat Revati Denasthali (MAH) by 21-11, 14-21, 21-17, while Sri Krishna Priya K prevailed upon Bhavya Rishi (Delhi) 21-15 and 21-16 in remaining two quarterfinals as all four Telangana girls booked semifinal berths.
In the under-17 (boys) category, Siril Varma A.S.S. (Telangana) beat Mithun M. (Karnatka) by 21-6, 21-19 to move into semifinals, while F Kanishq M. (AI) defeated Tapas Shukla (Uttar Pradesh) by 21-10 21-13 in another quarterfinal.
Lakshya Sen (UTR) outlasted Swarnaraj Bora (Assam) in three sets by 17-21 21-19 21-11, while Chirag Sen (AI) bt Rahul Yadav C.[Telangana] in another three-setter by 18-21 21-18 and 21-14.
In the girls under-17 category, Vrushali G. (Telangana) beat Anura Prabhudesai [GOA] in straight sets by 27-25 21-18 in a quarterfinal match, while Shikha Gautam (Karnatka) defeated Ashmita Chaliha [Assam] in three sets by 21-23 21-13 21-15 in another quarterfinal encounter.
Kanika Kanwal (Delhi) beat Kalpita Sawant(Maharashtra) by 21-15 21-8, while Shriyanshi Pardeshi (AI) bt Vaishnavi K. [Telangana] in straight sets by 21-8 21-15 to book their berths in semifinals.
