Pullela Gopichand entered the semi- finals of the Late Hari Chand Memorial All India prize money badminton tournament with a straight games win against J B S Vidyadhar of Railways in Kanpur on Thursday.
Gopichand won 7-3 8-6 7-2 in 30 minutes to set up a semi-final clash with Arvind Bhatt of of Karnataka. Bhatt defeated C M Sashidharan of Andhra Pradesh 4-7 7-2 7-4 8-6 in another quarter-final.
The second semi-final will see a clash between Siddharth Jain of PSCB and Sachin Ratti of Railways. Siddharth defeated Thomas Kurien of Kerala 7-3 5-7 7-3 7-4 in 45 minutes while Ratti took just over half an hour to beat Chetan Anand 7-2 7-2 7-4. In the women's section, P V V Laxmi of PSCB was the first to move into the semi-finals defeating Poonam Tiwari (Rly) 7-0 7-0 7-1.
In the second round matches played earlier in the day, Gopichand had registered a 7-1 7-1 7-1 victory against Nement Duggal of Railways to move into the quarter finals. Bureau Report