Syed Modi badminton | Good day for Indians as Tanvi, Unnati and Srikanth storm into semifinals

Tanvi Sharma continued her victory march at the Syed Modi India international 2025 with an easy win against Sin Yan Happy Lo of Taiwan to advance to the semifinal and keep her maiden World Tour title alive on Friday. She will next be up against Japan’s Hina Akechi, who upset Taiwan’s Shuo Hun Sung, the highest ranked player in the competition, 21-8, 21-15.

On the men’s side too, upsets continued as top seed and World No. 19 Jia Heng Jason Teh of Singapore was shocked 21-19, 12-21, 22-20 by 29-year old Minoru Koga of Japan, a former Junior World Championships medallist ranked 119 in the world. Koga will next play Jason Gunawan of Hong Kong for a spot in the final.

The 16-year old Tanvi had little trouble against her much taller opponent to win 21-13, 21-19, making up for the lack of smashing power with her tactical play and strategic placements. The first game was over in quick time despite a few errors and Tanvi admitted later that she was nervous at the start.

It was much closer in the second as the Taiwanese stuck to the sidelines and raced to an 18-13 lead. But Tanvi had a few close calls go her way to reel off five consecutive points before sealing the match.

Joining her in the last four is Unnati Hooda with a 21-15, 13-21, 21-16 win against Rakshitha Ramraj to keep hopes of an all-India final alive. Unnati, in the semifinal, will take on Turkey’s Neslihan Arin (Tur) who beat Isharani Baruah 21-19, 13-21, 21-15.

K. Srikanth, meanwhile, set up a semifinal clash with Mithun Manjunath after Priyanshu Rajawat retired down one game and trailing 4-11 in the second. Rajawat, who had twisted his ankle in the opening round, had been playing with a taped leg and also developed a blister on his thumb that affected his movement on court. Manjunath ended Manraj Singh’s dream run with a straight games win for his first semifinal on the World Tour since 2022.

The results (quarterfinals):

Men: Minoru Koga (Jpn) bt Jia Heng Jason Teh (Sgp) 21-19, 12-21, 22-20; Jason Gunawan (Hkg) bt Magnus Johannesen (Den) 20-22, 21-16, 21-19; K. Srikanth bt Priyanshu Rajawat 21-14, 11-4 ret; Mithun Manjunath bt Manraj Singh 21-18, 21-13.

Women: Neslihan Arin (Tur) bt Isharani Baruah 21-19, 13-21, 21-15; Unnati Hooda bt Rakshitha Ramraj 21-15, 13-21, 21-16; Tanvi Sharma bt SYH LO (Hkg) 21-13, 21-19; Hina Akechi (Jpn) bt Shuo Hun Sung (Tpe) 21-8, 21-15.