Kathmandu, June 19:

Any hopes of Nepal making it to the men’s singles semi-finals in the Bajaj Discover Nepal International Series 2008 Badminton Championship were dashed after three of their key players were knocked out from the second round here today.

Nepal’s No 1 shuttler Balram Thapa, Pankaj Chand and Sajan Krishna Tamrakar all lost their second round matches at the National Sports Council covered hall today. Balram lost to JBS Vidhyadhar 19-21, 21-15, 21-16, Pankaj went down 8-21, 16-21 against Pakistan’s Kamar Hasan and Sajan Krishna lost to India’s Ankush Jadhav 21-16, 15-21, 19-21.

India dominated the men’s singles event with three of their shuttlers — Chetan Anand, JBS Vidhyadhar and Binay Kumar Reddy — making it to the semi-finals. Chetan Anand defeated Atik Mohammed of Pakistan 21-9, 21-12, Vidhyadhar edged past Pakistan’s Kamar Hasan 18-21, 29-27, 21-10, and Reddy beat compatriot Ravinder Singh 17-21, 21-11, 21-16. Wajid Ali of Pakistan completed the semi-final fixture with a 21-14, 11-21, 21-13 victory over India’s Ankush Jadhav.

Advancing into the women’s singles semi-finals were Akhtar Salfa of Bangladesh, India pair Biwari Wasumtari and Anjali Kalita, and Thilini Jayasinghe of Sri Lanka. Salfa cruised to a comfortable 21-12, 21-12 win over Nepal’s Nagsla Devi Tamang while Wasumtari beat Pakistan’s Ayesha Akram 21-16, 21-12. Likewise, Kalita defeated Rani Adhikari of Bangladesh 21-15, 21-7 and Thilini overcame Awantika Deca of India 21-16, 21-16.

Nepal also did not fare will in the men’s doubles event although Bishal Pradhan and Pankaj Chand had a first round bye. Another Nepali pair Anil Kumar Lakhe and Prajwol Jung Rana lost to Indian pair Lakhbindur Singh Pannu and Raj Kumar 9-21, 13-21.

In other men’s doubles matches, Abdul Hanan and Mohammed Rahisuddin of Bangladesh beat Rajendra Paneru and Sajan Kumar Tamrakar 21-8, 21-9, Nishant Sinha and Rabindra Singh of India dispatched Jitendra Sharma and Surya Bahadur Thapa of Nepal 15-21, 22-20, 21-12, Vidhyadhar and Reddy overcame Balram and Indra Mahata 21-10, 21-8 and Kamar Hasana and Wajid Ali of Pakistan beat Nepal’s Bikash Shrestha and Nawaraj Joshi 21-15, 14-21, 21-10.