All Indian badminton finals in South Asian Games

Dhaka: Reigning supreme, shuttlers made it an all-Indian finals to ensure five gold and five silver medals

in the 11th South Asian Games here on Wednesday. Having already bagged the men`s and women`s team gold medals earlier, Indian badminton teams led by national champions Chetan Anand and Trupti Murgunde hence all set to make a clean sweep tomorrow. In the men`s singles semi-finals, top seeded Anand made a short work of Lankan No 2 Dinuka Karunaratne 21-15, 21-5 in a 25-minute battle at the Wooden Floor Gymnasium courts. In the summit clash, Anand will take on compatriot second seeded R M V Guru Sai Dutt who beat Ahsan Qamar of Pakistan 21-15, 21-11 in 21 minutes. Top seeded Sayali Gokhale dumped Pakistan`s Palwasha Bashir 21-8, 21-3 in the women`s singles semis in a battle that lasted just 20 minutes. Sayali will face second seeded Trupti who thrashed Thilini Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka 21-10, 21-18 in 30 minutes in another last-four women`s singles. Top seeded in men`s doubles, Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas will face a challenge from Chetan and Diju for the gold-silver decider tomorrow. Rupesh and Sanave beat Rizwan Azam and Kashif Sulehri of Pakistan 21-14, 21-13 in 23 minutes, while Chetan and Diju thrashed the Lankan duo of Rajitha Dahanayaka and Hasitha Chanaka Manani Hewa 21-12, 21-11 in just 17 minutes In the women`s doubles, top seeded Aparna Balan and Shruti Kurien beat Achini Ratnasiri and Upuli Samanthika 21-7, 21-8. In another encounter, second seeded P C Thulasi and Ashwini Ponnappa beat Renu C Hettiarachchige and Nadeesha Gayanthi M 21-8, 21-13 in just 20 minutes. In the mixed doubles gold decider tomorrow, top pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Diju Valiyaveetil will face second seeded duo of Aparna Balan and Sanave Thomas. The duo of Aparna and Sanave beat Lankan Renu C Hettiarachchige and Niluka Karunaratne 21-14, 21-13 in 23 minutes. Ashwini and Diju overwhelmed Shapla Aktar and Rasel Kabir of Bangladesh 21-14, 21-6 in another encounter. PTI