CWG: Srikanth leads India to mixed team semis

Gold Coast, April 7: World No.2 Kidambi Srikanth led India to a thumping 3-0 win over unfancied Mauritius and advance to the semi-finals of badminton mixed team event at the Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

Srikanth, the top seed, took just 29 minutes to beat Georges Julien Paul 21-12, 21-14 in the men's singles after the two doubles pairs had given India a 2-0 lead at the Carrara Sports Arena.

The men's doubles duo of Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Chandrashekhar Shetty hardly broke a sweat in their 21-12, 21-3 win over Aatish Lubah and Christopher Jean Paul in the first match before Ashwini Ponnappa and N.Sikki Reddy chalked out an easy 21-8, 21-7 victory over Aurelie Marie Elisa and Nicki Chan-Lam in the women's doubles.

2012 London Olympics medallist Saina Nehwal did not have to play her part in the quarterfinal as India had already taken a match-winning 3-0 lead.

India will take on Singapore in the semi-finals on Sunday. Singapore had beaten hosts Australia 3-0 in another quarter-final match.