Gutta-Ponnappa, Sindhu, Kashyap shine as India's badminton stars storm into CWG semis

Indian shuttler RMV Gurusaidutt came out with a brilliant performance to oust Malaysian top seed Chong Wei Feng and enter the men’s singles semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games here Friday. Second seeds Parupalli Kashyap and PV Sindhu as well as defending champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also notched up quarter-finals wins at the Emirates Arena. But fourth seed Kidambi Srikanth and sixth seed P.C. Thulasi had to bite the dust as their campaigns came to an end. [caption id=“attachment_1645933” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Second seeds Parupalli Kashyap and PV Sindhu as well as defending champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa also notched up quarter-finals wins. PTI[/caption] Fifth seed Gurusaidutt needed to bring out his best game on the day, which he did to beat the top seed Malaysian 21-15, 8-21, 21-17 in a marathon match which lasted an hour and seven minutes. The diminutive Indian will take on Singapore’s Derek Wong Saturday, who got the better of rising start and fourth seed Srikanth. Wong won the first game 21-10 before losing the second 12-21. But when it mattered most he conquered Srikanth 21-12 in the decider in the match which lasted 50 minutes. Earlier, second seed Kashyap also had an easy 21-13, 21-14 victory in 38 minutes to proceed to the semis. The 2010 Delhi Games bronze medallist is aiming to go one better when he takes on England’s third seed Rajiv Ouseph Saturday. In the absence of top seed Saina Nehwal, No.2 seed Sindhu routed New Zealand’s Anna Rankin in straight games in the women’s singles quarter-finals to enter the last four in her first appearance at the Games. World No.11 Sindhu notched up a comfortable 21-10, 21-9 win in 24 minutes and will take on Canadian fourth seed Michelle Li in the semis. But Sindhu’s friend and compatriot Thulasi went down to Malaysian Jing Yi Tee 21-18, 19-21, 19-21 in the last eight clash. Third seeds Jwala and Ashwini routed Sri Lankans Achini Rathnasiri and Upuli Weerasinghe 21-10, 21-9 in 22 minutes to enter the last four. IANS