Local badminton star Heri Setiawan crashed out to top seed Sameer Verma of India 21-17, 21-13 in the men’s singles quarter-finals of the Victor-Rayan Sports Bahrain International Series 2015 at Shaikh Khalifa Sports City yesterday.
Setiawan had set up the quarter-final clash against Verma after winning a thrilling three-set match the day before in the round of 32 against Turkish sixth seed Emre Vural 21-10, 21-23, 21-17.
The Indian dominance in the men’s singles was almost exclusive with the other three quarter-finals being all Indian affairs – Aditya Joshi beat Sarang Lakhanee 25-23, 21-14; his brother Pratul Joshi overcame Harsheel Dani 21-13, 21-17; and Subankhar Dey defeated Abshishek Yelegar 25-23, 21-18.
Earlier on in the day Yelegar had beaten the No 2 seed, South African Jacob Maliekal, in a tight three-set match 21-19, 18-21, 21-14.
The top two seeds in the women’s singles – top-seeded Thi Trang Vu from Vietnam and No 2 seed from India, Saili Rane – both made it through to the semi-finals. Trang Vu defeated Ebru Yazgan from Turkey 21-13, 21-15 and Rane beat the other Turkish quarter-finalist, Cemre Fere, 21-9, 21-13.
They were joined in the last four by Li Lian Yang of Malaysia who upset the No 4 seed from Finland, Nanna Vainio, 21-12, 21-13 and Belarus’ Alesia Zaitsava who overcame Kristine Sefere from Latvia, 21-11, 21-16.
The highlight of the men’s doubles was a thrilling duel in the last match of the evening between local Bahrain pair Jaffer Ebrahim and Heri Setiawan and the Malaysian pairing of Pak Chuu Chow and Kay Ee Yeoh.
The Bahrain pairing got off to a great start taking the first set 21-14, but the Malaysians hit back to square the match by taking the second set 21-19 and then take the win with a 21-14 final set.
Local interest in the semi-finals was maintained with victory for Heri Setiawan / Sandra Sakaria in an all Bahrain mixed doubles quarter-final and Neha Joho /Sandra Sakaria’s walk-over victory in the women’s doubles.
Today’s matches start at 5.30pm. Entry to see these world class players in action is free – the opportunity is there to see some world class play in a sport that the Bahrain Badminton and Squash Federation hopes to develop further within the Bahrain community and in particular the younger local population.
The Victor-Rayan Sports Bahrain International Series 2015 event is title sponsored by Victor-Rayan Sports, with The Mashtan Hotel and boomzbahrain.com supporting The Bahrain International Badminton Festival 2015 as Official Hotel and Online Media Partners respectively.
Today’s semi-final line-up:
Men’s singles: Sameer Verma (India) (1) vs Aditya Joshi; Pratul Joshi vs Subhankar Dey (India) (8).
Women’s singles: Thi Trang Vu (Vietnam) (1) vs Li Lian Yang (Malaysia); Alesia Zaitsava (Belarus) vs Saili Rane (India) (2).
Men’s doubles: Emre Vural / Sinan Zorlu (Turkey) (1) vs Wee Tat Tan / Yip Jiun Tan (Malaysia) (4); Vineeth Manuel / S Sanjeeth (India) vs Pak Chuu Chow / Kay Ee Yeoh (Malaysia).
Women’s doubles: Neha Jojo / Sandra Sakaria (Bahrain) vs Palwasha Bashir / Sara Mohmand (Pakistan); S Poorvish Ram / Arathi Sara Sunil – Walk-over.
Mixed doubles: Yip Jiun Tan / Li Lian Yang (Malaysia) vs Ahmed Salah / Menna Eltanany (Egypt) (3); Heri Setiawan / Sandra Sekaria (Bahrain) vs Artyom Savatyugin (Uzbekhistan) / Alesia Zaitsava (Belarus).
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