Cuttack: Kiran George upset third seed Subhankar Dey to advance to the men's singles semifinals while the in-form Malvika Bansod cruised to the last four stage in the women's event at the Odisha Open badminton here on Friday.
The unseeded Kiran eked out a 21-16, 10-21, 21-19 win over the higher ranked Subhankar, who was the last remaining seed in the men's singles event.
The 21-year-old Keralite will meet the winner of the quarterfinal between Ansal Yadav and Tharun Mannepalli.
Malvika, who reached the final of the Syed Modi International where she lost to P V Sindhu before defeating Saina Nehwal at the India Open earlier this month, continued to impress as she registered a 21-13, 16-21, 21-17 victory over fellow Indian Tanya Hemanth in a gruelling 58-minute quarterfinal contest.
Fifth seed Ashmita Chaliha got the better of Rhucha Sawant 21-17, 21-15 to book her spot in the last four of the women's singles, where she will meet compatriot Smit Toshniwal, who came from behind to beat USA's Ishika Jaiswal 8-21, 21-9, 21-14.
In another women's singles quarterfinal, Unnati Hooda handed fellow Indian Samiya Imad Farooqui a 21-10, 21-15 defeat in 26 minutes. She will lock horns with Malvika, who is ranked 87th, in the semifinal.
Unseeded Mithun Manjunath, who had stunned seventh seed June Wei Cheam of Malaysia on Thursday, lost a hard-fought battle 21-13, 14-21, 8-21 to Priyanshu Rajawat in 51 minutes in another men's singles quarterfinal.
In the mixed doubles event, three Indian pairings -- M R Arjun-Treesa Jolly, Balkeshari Yadav-Swetaparna Panda and Mauryan Kathiravan-Kuham Balashri -- advanced to the semifinals.
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