Badminton: Praneeth, Jwala-Ashwini, Manu-Sumeeth reach semis of US Open

New York: India’s men singles shuttler B Sai Praneeth alongwith two other doubles pairs advanced to the semifinals of the USD 120,000 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here. The 22-year-old from Andhra Pradesh thrashed Hong Kong’s NG Ka Long Angus, seeded 12, 21-8 21-14 in a lop-sided quarterfinals that lasted just 32 minutes at the Suffolk County Community College. [caption id=“attachment_2305228” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Sai Praneeth. AFP[/caption] Praneeth will now meet former World No. 1 and two-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei of Malaysian. Commonwealth Games silver medallists Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, seeded fourth, also notched up a 21-17 21-14 win over seventh seeded German pair of Johanna Goliszewski and Carla Nelte in the women’s doubles. The 2011 World Championship bronze medallists will next take on Japanese combo of Ayane Kurihara and Naru Shinoya in the final four. Indian men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy earned a hard-fought victory over England combo of Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge 22-20 21-13 to make it to the semifinals. They will play fourth seeds Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda of Japan. PTI