India's Garaga-Panjala in men's doubles final, Saina Nehwal bows out

ORLEANS (France): Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnu Vardhan Goud Panjala on Saturday became the first Indians to enter the men's doubles final of the Orleans Masters Super 100 badminton tournament.

Garaga, 21, and Panjala, 20, defeated Callum Hemming and Steven Stallwood of England 21-17, 21-17 in just 35 minutes.

In the final, the Indians will face fourth seeded English pair Ben Lane and Sean Vendy, who defeated Sabar Karyaman Gutama and M. Reza Pahlevi Isfahani of Indonesia 10-21, 21-16, 21-13 in 47 minutes in the other semi-final match.

However, the other Indians lost on Saturday. In the women's singles semi-finals, fourth seed Saina Nehwal lost to unseeded Line Christophersen of Denmark 17-21, 17-21 in just 28 minutes. In the women's doubles semi-finals, eighth-seeded pair Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy went down to Thai top seeds Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai 18-21, 9-21 in 37 minutes. In a mixed doubles semi-final match, Niclas Nohr and Amalie Magelund of Denmark defeated Indians Dhruv Kapila and Ashwini 21-9, 21-23, 21-7 in 54 minutes. (IANS)

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