The glorious journey of young Odisha shuttler Swetaparna Panda at the Odisha Open International Badminton Tournament came to an end when she and her partner Balkeshari Yadav went down to MR Arjun and Tressa Jolly (India) in the mixed doubles semifinals at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack today.

Arjun and Tressa won the match 21-9, 21-9 to set up the title clash against Sri Lankan pair of Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendahewa, who got the better of Indian duo Mauryan Kathiravan and Kuhan Balashri 21-8, 21-17.

Finalists were also identified in mens singles and doubles, womens singles and doubles events on the the fifth and penultimate day of the first-ever international badminton tournament in Odisha.

In mens singles, Priyanshu Rajawat (India) defeated Kaushal Dharmamer (India) 21-17, 21-14 to advance into the finals. He will play Kiran George (India) for the title, who overcame stiff challenge against Ansal Yadav 19-21, 21-12, 21-14.

Malvika Bansod (India) lost to Unnati Hooda (India) in the first semifinals of the womens singles event 24-22, 24-22, while Smit Toshniwal (India) also caused an upset by defeating Ashmita Chaliha (India) in the other semifinal 21-19, 10-21, 21-17.

PS Ravi and SP Uday came through a three-game marathon to make it to the finals of the mens doubles event. They will play Malaysian pair Nur Mohd and Lim Khim Wah, who came through in another three-game thriller.

Treesa Jolly and Gayathri Gopichand (India) registered yet another a comfortable win to advance into the womens doubles finals 21-9, 21-6. Whereas Sanyogita Ghorpade and Shruti Mishra (India) won the other semifinal in three-games.
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PHOTO: Odisha shuttler Swetaparna Panda in action during her mixed doubles semifinal match at the Odisha Open in Cuttack on 29th January 2022.