Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Sameer, Ashwini-Sikki in finals of Syed Modi meet

P.V. Sindhu, B. Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma and the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy reached the title rounds of the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships here on Saturday.

Ashwini and Sikki also advanced to the mixed doubles final with their partners B. Sumeeth Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra respectively at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium.

Olympic 2016 runner-up Sindhu ended Indonesian fourth seed Fitriani Fitriani's run with 21-11, 21-19 victory in the semi-final to set up a title clash against unseeded Indonesian Grigoria Mariska, who stunned compatriot sixth seed Hanna Ramadini 21-19, 21-14 in 37 minutes to extend her dream run.

In the men's singles competition, eighth seed and national champion Sameer Verma defeated 15th seed Harsheel Dani 21-15, 21-11 in 31 minutes.

Sameer will be up against Indian ninth seed Sai Praneeth, who edged past third seed Kidambi Srikanth 15-21, 21-10, 21-17 in 59 minutes.

In the women's doubles competition, unseeded Indian pair of Ashwini-Sikki battled past Sanjana Santosh and Arathi Sara Sunil 18-21, 21-12, 21-13 in 47 minutes.

In the title clash, Ashwini-sikki will now face Danish top seeds Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl, who got the better of Malaysian third seeds Yin Loo Lim and Yap Cheng Wen 23-21, 21-14 in 50 minutes.

The mixed doubles will see Ashwini and Sikki facing each other. Ashwini combined with his mixed doubles partner B. Sumeeth Reddy to stun top seeds Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark 19-21, 21-18, 21-18 in an hour and 11 minutes.

The Indian seventh seeds will meet compatriot second seeds Sikki and Pranaav, who disposed off Danish fifth seeds Mathias Christiansen and Sara Thygesen 21-18, 21-13 in 40 minutes.

--IANS

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