Anand, Abhinn in last four

Defending champion Chetan Anand and national champion Abhinn Shyam Gupta booked places in the semi-finals in the All India Syed Modi badminton championship in Lucknow on Thursday.

Top seed Anand was made to sweat by little-known Hemant Duggal before prevailing 15-4, 13-15, 15-1 while Gupta got the better of unseeded Thomas Kurian 11-15, 15-7, 15-2.

Meanwhile, local boy Utsav Misra defeated SDS Krishna of Andhra Pradesh 15-9, 15-9 to set a semi-final date with Anand.

Arvind Bhat was the last entrant into the last four after he defeated Sachin Ratti 15-7, 15-9.

In the women's event, top seed and national champion Aparna Popat stormed in the last four, beating Aditi Mutakar 11-7, 11-8 while second seed Trupti Murgunde thrashed Tanmoy Nandi 11-1, 11-0.

The semi-final line-up was completed by Manjusha Kanwar and Shruti Kurian.

In the men's doubles, the pair of Pullela Gopichand and Chetan Anand defeated Mayur Ghatnekar and Mangrish Palekar 15-10 15-5 to move into the last eight.