Teenage prodigy Prince Dahal marched into the men’s singles semi-finals of the Annapurna Nepal International Series Badminton Championships on Friday.

Dahal recovered from going a set down to brush aside his Nepali compatriot Nabin Shrestha 18-21, 22-20 and 21-15. Meanwhile, there was despair for Nepal No 1 and fourth seed Ratnajit Tamang as he crashed out of the tournament following a heartbreaking 21-13, 26-24 defeat against Swarnaraj Bora of India.

In another men’s singles quarter-final match, Seng Zoe Yeoh of Malaysia dispatched Mohammad Salman Khan of Bangladesh 21-10, 21-11. The semi-final equation has now been completed as India’s Kartikey Gulshan Kumar thrashed local boy and Nepal No 2 Dipesh Dhami 21-13, 21-12. Dahal will play against Bora while Yeoh goes head to head against Kumar.

In the women’s singles, an interesting clash between Malvika Bansod of India and Chika Shigeyama of Japan saw the Indian emerge a 21-18, 13-21, 21-13 winner. Home team’s Sima Rajbanshi was dispatched 21-7, 21-9 by Yu Chieh of Chinese Taipei while the all-India quarter-final match-up saw Gayatri Gopichand Pullela defeat Samiya Imad Farooqui 21-19, 21-6. Another Nepali shuttler to bow out of the tournament was Sita Nepal. Rai lost 21-6, 21-9 to Yuri Nakamura of Japan.

The men’s doubles saw the Nepali duo Dipesh Dhami and Ratnajit Tamang edge past their Nepali compatriot Irfan Ansari and Riyaz Ansari 21-18, 21-7. Malaysians Izzat Farhan Azhar and Zachary Chiong Shen Sia got the better of Pratik Ranade and Akshan Shetty 21-17, 21-17. Another Nepali pair Bijeet Thapa Magar and Bikash Shrestha recovered rallied from a set down to beat Himanshu Mital and Shubham Sharma of India 16-21, 21-15, 21-11. However, India avenged that loss with a 23-21, 21-4 win over Prince Dahal and Nabin Shrestha as Rohan Kapoor and Saurabh Sharma secured a last-four berth.

In the women’s doubles, Nepal’s No 1 singles player Nangsal Tamang and Pooja Shrestha registered a 21-10, 21-11 win over their compatriots Safee Khatri and Loktama Rai. Nita Lamshal and Sima Rajbanshi secured a hard-fought 26-24, 13-21, 21-13 win over Ranjana Bhatt and Rashila Maharjan. Sita Rai and Samjhana Sharma made it to the semi-finals without even entering the court as their opponents Tara Ale and Manisha Khadka did not turn up for the match. Jessica Gurung and Anu Maya Rai had less to do as the duo stormed past Shova Gauchan and Amita Giri 21-18, 21-13.

Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan of India thumped Nabin Shrestha and Anu Maya of Nepal 22-20, 21-16 to move into the last-four in the mixed doubles. Ratnajit Tamang and Nangshal Tamang thrashed Kirtesh Dhindhwal and Anubha Kaushik of India 21-10, 21-13 in another match. Thailand’s Bowornwatanuwong Phutthaporn and Ririn Amelia of Indonesia had a similar fate as they chalked off Gautam Kathayat and Samjhana Sharma of Nepal 21-11, 21-14. Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh were the other winning team from India as they defeated Dipesh Dhami and Shova Gauchan of Nepal 21-11 and 21-10.

The tournament concluded at the Dashrath Stadium covered hall on Sunday.