COLOMBO: India is ready for a handful of medals, including gold, in the badminton event of the South Asian Games here on Thursday.

The huge indoor stadium in the Sugathadasa complex did not have good spectator presence, though when a Sri Lankan was on the court, the hall did echo with spontaneous cheers. And indeed the host had something to cheer with Thushara Eidirisinghe and Duminda Jayakody edging out Jishnu Sanyal and Akshay Dewalkar in three games in the men's doubles to ensure that India did not walk away with all the gold and silver medals.

The morning matches started with Chetan Anand once again getting into a tangle initially against the Pakistani No. 2 Zeeshan Umer. The Indian's hesitant movement suggested that he still carried the strain on his hamstring muscle. But as he was to explain later it was the movement of the shuttle that unsettled him. Chetan took time to control his strokes but before long ensured victory with crisp placements and half smashes.

Southpaw Nikhil Kanetkar on the other hand was in firm control right from the start against Pakistan's top player Waji Choudhry. "Seeing the Pakistan player's intentions I knew that I must not allow the rally to go," said Nikhil on his successful ploy.

Meeting Chetan in the final will not be new for Nikhil but the former has a better record. But then Nikhil will yearn for his first `gold' in this regional games, perhaps to celebrate his marriage to teammate Sruthi Kurien scheduled on August 27. Sruthi incidentally is in the women's doubles final herself, partnering Jwala Gutta.

The results (all semifinals):

Men: Singles: B. Chetan Anand (Ind) bt Zeeshan Umer (Pak) 21-10, 16-21, 21-7; Nikhil Kantetkar (Ind) bt Waji Ali Choudhry (Pak) 21-10, 21-12. Doubles: Rupesh Kumar/Sanave Thomas (Ind) bt Muhammad Atique/Rizwan Azam (Pak) 21-17, 21-13; Thushara Eidirisinghe/Duminda Jayakody (SL) bt Jishnu Sanyal/Akshay Dewalkar (Ind) 21-13, 16-21, 21-16.

Women: Singles: Trupti Murgunde (Ind) bt Renu Chandrika de Silva (SL) 21-11, 21-10; B R Meenakshi (Ind) bt Sumina Shrestha (Nep) 21-9, 21-14. Doubles: B.R. Menakshi/Aparna Balan (Ind) bt Chadrika de Silva/Thilini Jayasinghe (SL) 21-7, 21-14; Jwala Gutta/Shruthi Kurien (Ind) bt Nadeesha Gayanthi/Rasangi Ranatunga (SL) 21-10, 21-10.

Mixed doubles: Diju V/Jwala Gutta (Ind) bt Waqas Ahamad/Saima Manzoor (Pak) 21-4, 21-9; Thomas Kurien/Aparna Balan (Ind) bt Thushara Eidirisinghe/Chadrika de Silva (SL) 21-14, 16-21, 21-7.

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