India were all set for a clean sweep of badminton golds of the 9th SAF Games after the men and women lived up to their top billing and set up all-India finals in all the individual events today. Having won the team events, Indian men and women gave a clinical display today in the semifinals and booked all the berths in the individual finals to assure themselves of all the golds on offer in badminton. Chetan Anand and Abhinn Shyam Gupta will clash for the men's singles title after straight sets victory over local lad Wajid Ali Chaudhry and Sri Lankan Udrp Kumara respectively. Chetan defeated Wajid 15-10 15-4 while Abhinn accounted for Udrp 15-13 15-7. In the women's semifinals, B R Meenakshi thrashed Sri Lankan Renu Chandrika while Trupt Murugunde was even severe on another Lankan, Pamish Dishanthi Arumawadu, winning 11-0 11-1. Rupesh Kumar and Markose Bristow defeated Jayakody and Yaslal Edirisinghe of Sri Lanka 15-10 15-6 to set up the doubles final with Jaseel Ismal and Vidyadhar who knocked out home pair Umer Zeeshan and Rizwan Asghar Rana 15-11 15-2. Fathima Nazneen and Manjusha Kanwar had it easy against Chandrika and Arumawadu 15-3 15-4 as did Jwala Gutta and Shruti Kurien who won against Uzma Butt and Asma Butt of Pakistan 15-3 15-1. The mixed doubles final will be between the pairs of Bristow-Meenakshi and Jaseel-Gutta who advanced with contrasting wins. The former overcame Edirisinghe and Chandrika 15-5 15-17 15-10 while the latter waltzed past Aliyar Baig and Saima Manzoor of Pakistan 15-4 15-2. (PTI)
India set to sweep badminton event
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