Chengdu [China], October 25 : India was assured a gold medal in the girls U-17 category of the Badminton Asia U-17 & U-15 Championships after sixth seed Diksha Sudhakar and eighth seed Lakshya Rajesh registered straight games victories in their respective semifinals here on Saturday.
With top seed Shaina Manimuthu also reaching the girls U-15 final, India will have a chance to bring home two gold medals. The Indian contingent was already assured of five medals ahead of Saturday's semifinal matches, as per a press release from the Badminton Association of India (BFI).
In the girls' U-17 last four round, Diksha defeated Chinese Taipei's Yun Chiao Su 21-8, 21-17 in 27 minutes before Lakshya joined her in the finals with a 21-15, 21-19 win over Japan's Ria Haga.
While the two girls eased through their semifinals, Shaina was made to work hard for almost an hour by China's Yun Jie Yi before prevailing 21-12, 16-21, 21-16.
She will now face Japan's Chiharu Tomita in the girls' U-15 final.
However, India's hopes of a final spot in the U-17 mixed doubles and U-17 boys doubles categories were dashed.
In the mixed doubles semifinals, Jangjeet Singh Kajla and Jananika Ramesh went down 17-21, 21-18, 21-16 against I An Chang and Yo Han Wang of Chinese Taipei.
Meanwhile, Jagsher Singh Khangurra lost his boys' singles semifinal against China's Hong Tian Yue 21-11, 21-16.
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