Rahul, Arjun-Shlok enter semis of Russian Grand Prix

Indian men's singles player Rahul Yadav Chittaboina and men's doubles pair of Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok advanced to the semifinals of the Russian Open Grand Prix today at Vladivostok.

The 19-year-old Rahul, who had won the Mauritius International last year, defeated England's Wang Yuehang 13-11 11-5 11-6 a 22-minute match to set up a clash with second seed Vladimir Malkov.

Fourth seeds Arjun and Shlok also notched up a come- from-behind 7-11 11-9 11-8 11-9 win over Japanese combo of Masato Takano and Yoshiki Tsukamoto. They will next face Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov, who had won the 2016 All England Super Series Premier.

Sixth seed Rasika Raje was knocked out of women's singles, suffering a 2-11 4-11 7-11 loss to fourth seeded Japanese Natsuki Nidaira in a lop-sided contest. Vrushali Gummadi's gallant fight ended with a 11-8 8-11 12-10 9-11 9-11 loss against third seed Natalia Perminova of Russia.

In mixed doubles, Saurabh Sharma and Anoushka Parikh lost 12-10 8-11 7-11 8-11 to Chan Peng Soon and Cheah Yee See of Malaysia.