V. Diju and J.B.S. Vidyadhar play against Thailand's Naruenart Chuaymak and Thitipong Lapoe at the BWF Manorama World Senior Badminton Championships at the Rajeev Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Kochi. Photo: Josekutty PanackalKochi: It was a great day for Kerala shuttlers as V. Diju, K.T. Rupesh Kumar, Sanave Thomas and K.A. Aneesh registered thumping wins to reach the finals of the BWF Manorama World Senior Badminton Championships at the Rajeev Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Kadavanthra, on Saturday.
The duo of V. Diju and J.B.S. Vidyadhar eased past Thailand's Naruenart Chuaymak and Thitipong Lapoe 21-15, 21-9 in men's doubles +35 semifinals. They will be up against the home heroes K.T. Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas in Sunday's final. Rupesh and Sanave defeated the Japanese pair of Hosemari Fujimoto and Matsumoto Masayuki 21-12, 21-9.
In the men’s singles +40 category, Aneesh stormed into the final after getting past fellow local star Joy T. Antony 21-16, 21-15. Aneesh will meet Japan's Hosemari Fujimoto in the final.
The other Indians who made it to the finals in different categories are Basant Kumar Soni (men's singles +55) and the pair of Srikant Bakshi and Navdeep Singh (men's doubles +45).
Soni defeated Australia's Loke Poh Wong 21-16, 21-16 and will meet Thailand's Pornroj Banditsiput in the title clash. Bakshi-Singh duo booked the final berth with a convincing 21-15, 21-19 win over Sweden's Stefan Edvardsson and Ulf Svensson. They will take on the Thailand's Chatchai Boonmee and Wittaya Panomchai in the final.
K. Aneesh in action. Photo: Josekutty PanackalIn the men's singles 35+ category, India's Olympian Nikhil Kanetkar was forced to forefeit his semifinal after suffering an injury while trailing 3-8 against Thailand's Naruenart Chuaymak in the semifinals.
In the women's category, India's Saupriya Devgun & Nancy Tandon (+40 doubles), and Sangeeta Rajgopalan & Poonam Tatwawadi (+45 doubles) bowed out in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Russia's Maria Koloskova will take the field in three finals on Sunday. She reched the +35 singles, doubles and mixed doubles category title rounds. Koloskova will clash with her doubles partner Olga Arkhangelskaya in the singles final.
