Guwahati Masters 2024 badminton: Anmol Kharb reaches final; India eye three titles
Sathish Karunakaran, in the men’s singles, and Ashwini Ponnapa-Tanisha Crasto, in the women’s doubles, also won their respective semi-finals matches.
Badminton
Hosts India will have the opportunity to bag three titles on the final day of the Guwahati Masters 2024 badminton tournament on Sunday.
On Saturday, Anmol Kharb (women’s singles), third seed Sathish Karunankaran (men’s singles) and defending champions Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto (women’s doubles) registered contrasting wins in their semi-final matches to book their spots in the respective summit clashes of the Super 100 tournament.
In the all-Indian women’s singles semi-final, world No. 99 Anmol Kharb defeated 156th-ranked Mansi Singh 21-19, 21-17 in just 40 minutes and Sathish Karunankaran ended the day with a come from behind 13-21, 21-14, 21-16 win over sixth seed Wang Zheng Xing of the People’s Republic of China.
In the women’s doubles semi-finals, top seeds Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto cruised through to a 21-14, 21-14 win over Keng Shu Liang and Wang Ting Ge of China in the semi-finals. They will face another Chinese combination of Li Hua Zhou and Wang Zi Meng as they aim to become the only champions from the first edition to retain the title.
This is the second edition of the competition, organised jointly by the Badminton Association of India and Assam Badminton Association with the view of providing international exposure and much needed top notch competition for the young Indian badminton players at home.
And Anmol Kharb and Sathish Karunankaran underlined the importance of such events by making the most of the home support to reach the finals.
Seventeen-year-old Anmol, who has already won two International titles this year, will now face Chinese qualifier Cai Yan Yan aiming for the first Super 100 title of her fledgling career.
Cai Yan Yan, ranked 342, is a bronze medal winner from the 2019 Asian Championships and a former world junior and an Asian mixed team champion.
In the men’s singles final, Sathish Karunankaran will look to add another Super 100 title to his trophy cabinet. The 23-year-old, who had won the Odisha Masters Super 100 last year, will face another Chinese qualifier Zhu Xuan Chen.
The mixed doubles final will witness a clash between China’s Zhang Han Yu and Bao Li Jing against Rory Easton and Lizzie Tolman of England while China’s Huang Di and Liu Yang will take on Chia Weijie and Lwi Sheng Hao of Malaysia in the men’s doubles final.