Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal will look to book her place in the semi-finals of the Syed Modi International Badminton World Super Tour 300 when she takes on her compatriot Rituparna Das in the last-eight clash of the women's singles event in Lucknow on Friday.
Second-seed Nehwal had on Thursday cemented her spot in the quarter-finals of the tournament after brushing aside Amolika Singh Sisodiya 21-14, 21-9 in a one-sided clash that lasted just 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, India's B Sai Praneeth and Parupalli Kashyap will also look to storm into the semi-finals when they cross swords with sixth-seed Lu Guangzu of China and eighth-seed Sitthikom Thammasin of Thailand, respectively, in the men's singles event.
Fourth-seed Praneeth had earlier swept past Indonesia's Shesar Hiren Rhustavito 21-12, 21-10 in 29 minutes, while Kashyap bounced back from a game down to overcome a challenge from Firman Abdul Kholik of Indonesia 9-21, 22-20, 21-8 in a 57-minute pre-quarterfinal clash.
In the mixed doubles' event, the Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa will take on the Indonesian duo of Ronald Ronald and Annisa Saufika in the quarter-finals before Rankireddy will join forces with Chirag Shetty for the last-eight men's doubles clash against China's Ou Xuanyi and Ren Xiangyu later in the day.
Ponnappa, on the other hand, will combine with N Sikki Reddy for a quarter-final clash of the women's doubles event against the Indonesian team of Tania Oktaviani Kusumah and Vania Arianti Sukuco.
Ponnappa and Sikki had earlier defeated fellow countrywomen Preethi Konadam and Priya Konjenbam 21-14, 21-13 in their last round.
