Sunil Joshi and Ranjana Bhatt of Nepal entered the singles semi-finals at the South Asian U-21 Badminton Championships at the APF Headquarters court in Halchowk on Friday.

Joshi beat Nibal Ahmed of Maldives 21-12, 21-15 in the men’s singles match, while Bhatt saw off Urmi Akter of Bangladesh 21-19, 21-18. Prince Dahal, Praful Maharjan and Nabin Shrestha also won men’s singles games. Dahal beat Viren Nettasinghe of Sri Lanka 21-9, 21-16, Maharjan saw off Mohammed Rafah of Mal-dives 21-4, 21-8, and Shrestha defeated Gourab Singha of Bangladesh 21-17, 21-7.

Apart of Bhatt, none of the other Nepali ladies won singles on Friday. Jessica Gurung lost 21-8, 21-15 to Dilmi Dias of Sri Lanka, Rasila Maharjan went down to Malvika Bansod of India 21-10m 21-12, and Sunayana Mukhiya lost 21-8, 21-9 to Hasina Ambalangodage.

In men’s singles, Mangal Singha of Bangladesh beat Aakif Mahamed of Maldives 21-5, 21-18, Priyanshu Rajawat of India saw off Chirath Illeperumachchi of  Sri Lanka 21-11, 25-23, and Dhruv Rawat of India dispatched Dumindu Abeywickrama of Sri Lanka 21-11, 21-17. Also, Ranthushka Sasindau of Sri Lanka beat Syed Saka Md Sibgatullah of Bangladesh.

In women’s singles, Farbin Binte Emdad Hridita of Bangladesh saw off Maasha Rasheed of Maldives 19-21, 21-17, 21-16, Hasar Wijayarathne of Sri Lanka defeated Aminath Nabeeha of Maldives 21-10, 21-19, Purva Barve of India got the better of Rasma Akhtar of Bangladesh 21-7, 21-7.