India will be represented in three of the five finals at the Guwahati Masters Super 100 badminton tournament on Sunday. Rising young talent Anmol Kharb in women’s singles, former winners Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Krasto in women’s doubles and third seed Satish Kumar Karunkaran in men’s singles won their respective semi-finals on Saturday.
In the All India Women’s Singles semifinal, Anmol defeated Mansi Singh 21-19, 21-17 in 40 minutes to reach her maiden World Tour final. The 17-year-old, who has so far been instrumental in India’s victory in the Asian Team Championship, has already won two international titles: one in the International Series and the other in the International Challenge. If she wins in Guwahati, it will be her biggest victory. Her most impressive win of the week came in the quarterfinals when she defeated defending champion Lalinrat Chaiwan of Thailand 21-13, 22-24, 22-20 in one hour and 14 minutes.
Anmol, now ranked in the world top 100, will face Chinese qualifier Kai Yan Yan, who beat Syed Modi Super 300 finalist Wu Luo Yu in straight games, in the title clash.
In the women’s doubles semi-finals, top seeds Ashwini and Tanisha defeated China’s Keng Shu Liang and Wang Ting Ge 21-14, 21-14. 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. However, after she and Dhruv Kapila were defeated in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles, Tanisha was denied a place in the two finals.
For India, Satish Kumar ended the day with a 13-21, 21-14, 21-16 win over sixth seed Wang Zheng Jing of China. In the men’s singles final, Satish Kumar will be looking to add another Super 100 title to his trophy cabinet. The 23-year-old, who won the Odisha Masters Super 100 last year, will face another Chinese qualifier Zhu Xuan Chen.
China’s Zhang Han Yu and Bao Li Jing and England’s Rory Easton and Lizzie Tolman will compete in the mixed doubles final, while China’s Huang Di and Liu Yang will compete against Malaysia’s Chia Weiji and Lui Sheng Hao in the men’s doubles final.