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Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen advanced into the finals of the Syed Modi International 2024 badminton tournament in Lucknow on Saturday.
Sindhu set herself up with the opportunity to end a two-year-long title drought on the BWF World Tour. PV Sindhu, 18th in the badminton rankings, comprehensively beat 17-year-old compatriot Unnati Hooda 21-12, 21-9 in the women's singles semi-finals of the BWF Super 300 tournament. A two-time Olympic medallist, PV Sindhu will face the People's Republic of China's Wu Luo Yu, ranked 119th, in the final on Sunday. The Indian badminton player's last title on the BWF World Tour was at the Singapore Open in July 2022. Since then, Sindhu made the finals at the 2023 Spain Masters Super 300 and 2024 Malaysia Masters Super 500 but ended up losing the summit clashes. Sindhu has previously won the Syed Modi International in 2022, beating compatriot Malvika Bansod in the final. Paris 2024 semi-finalist Lakshya Sen, meanwhile, will face Singapore's Jia Heng Jason Teh in the men's singles final. The Indian shuttler comfortably beat Japan's Shogo Ogawa 21-8, 21-14 in the final match of the day after Teh had downed Priyanshu Rajawat 21-13, 21-19 to end the hopes of an all-Indian clash in the final. Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also made the final of the mixed doubles event after beating China's Zhou Zhi Hong and Yang Jia Yi 21-16, 21-15 in their semi-final clash. The Indian duo will face Thailand's Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran for the title. The Thai pair beat another Chinese team, Liao Pin Yi and Huang Ke Xin, in their corresponding top-four clash. This will be Dhruv Kapila's first final on tour. Both the men's and women's doubles events in Lucknow, meanwhile, will culminate with Indo-China clashes. Commonwealth Games bronze medal-winners Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly will face China's Bao Li Jing and Li Qian for the women's doubles crown. Gopichand-Jolly came from behind to edge out Thai second seeds Benyapa Aimsaard and Nuntakarn Aimsaard 18-21, 21-18, 21-10 in their semi-final fixture. Jing and Qian also produced a similar come-from-behind victory to account for India's Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto by a 14-21, 21-16, 21-13 scoreline in their top-four encounter. In men's doubles, Pruthvi Krishnamurthy Roy and Sai Prathhek K beat fellow Indians Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sankar Prasad Udayakumar 21-17, 17-21, 21-16 in a closely-fought semi-final contest. The duo will play China's Huang Di and Liu Yang for the title. (ANI)
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