Syed Modi GP: Kashyap, Sindhu keep Indian hopes alive; Gurusaidutt loses

Lucknow: Favourites Parupalli Kashyap and P.V. Sindhu kept the Indian flag flying high after notching up wins in their respective categories to enter the semifinals of the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold badminton at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium here Friday.

Kashyap, the men`s singles second seed, won a quarterfinal thriller against Malaysian Soon Huat Goh 23-21, 8-21, 21-16 in 66 minutes in their first ever encounter to enter the semifinal. World No.24 Sindhu, meanwhile, had an easy win over Febby Angguni of Indonesia beating her in straight games. The second seed won the quarterfinal encounter 21-13, 21-17 in 37 minutes. This was Sindhu`s second win over the Indonesian in as many matches, the first one coming in the same tournament in 2010. However, it was a bad day in office for R.M.V. Gurusaidutt as he went down to third seed Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia in a classic and marathon quarterfinal battle which lasted an hour and 32 minutes. The 12th seeded Indian lost 21-19, 20-22, 16-21 after a promising start to the match. This was Sugiarto`s second win in as many meetings over Gurusaidutt, since winning their only encounter in 2009 Chinese Taipei Grand Prix Gold. As the scoreline suggests, all three games went right down to the wire. It was only in the third game that the World No.27 Indonesian took off from 10-all. The Indonesian was also docked off a point, for wasting time, by the chair umpire. Sugiarto was shown the yellow card first as a warning before being shown the red. "He was taking a lot of time which broke my rhythm where I think I lost the match. I don`t know what are the rules but Tommy wasting time was irritating. And after playing 80 minutes I did not have patience to wait for him to get for the next point," said the 20-year-old Gurusaidutt. "But I guess this is all a part of the game. He won and I have to respect that. I will be ready for it next time," added the World No.39. In another quarterfinal involving an Indian, H.S Prannoy lost his last eight match against fifth seed Alamsyah Yunus of Indonesia in another long match lasting one hour and five minutes. Yunus won 18-21, 21-10, 21-12. Quarterfinals results: Men`s singles: 14-Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk bt K. Srikanth 21-16, 21-12; 5-Alamsyah Yunus bt H.S. Prannoy 18-21, 21-10, 21-12; 3-Tommy Sugiarto bt 12-R.M.V. Gurusaidutt 19-21, 22-20, 21-16; 2-Kashyap Parupalli bt Soon Huat Goh 23-21, 8-21, 21-16. Women`s singles: 3-Sapsiree Taerattanachai bt 5-Aprilla Yuswandari 21-16, 21-11; 6-Nozomi Okuhara bt Sannatasah Saniru 21-17, 21-12; 7-Lindaweni Fanetri bt 4-Nichaon Jindapon 21-15, 10-21, 21-12; 2-P.V. Sindhu bt Febby Angguni 21-13, 21-17. IANS