Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi based Rakesh Ramakrishnan, defending Men Doubles Champion, partnering Raghav Bhatt advanced to the Men Doubles Semifinals of 39th ISC UAE APEX Open Badminton Tournament, which is being held in India Social Centre, in UAE Capital. 
The pair had little resistance from Asep Adriyana/Shamsudheen Ibrahim pair and defeated them in the quarterfinals, 21-16, 21-13. In the semifinals, Rakesh-Raghav pair will meet Alfas Kalam and Waqas Ahmed, who is ex-national player from Pakistan.
In another thrilling Mens Doubles quarterfinal match, Avinash S. Kumar and Vinod Kumar defeated Endi Madullah and Jaffer Ibrahim, from Bahrain, 21-17, 21-18, to advance to semifinals.
In the Under 12 and Under 15 Boys Singles finals which were concluded earlier in the day, Fazim Abdu Anzar (Fujairah) and Vasanth Kumar Rajendran (Abu Dhabi) became winners respectively. Fazim Abdu Anzar defeated Naban Abdul Najeeb from Sharjah 21-8, 21-10 and Vasanth Kumar Rajendran defeated Adarsh Dinesh Nair from Dubai 21-19, 21-19.
“I have been training hard with my coach Mr. Avinash S. Kumar for last two months for this tournament and am very happy to be the U-15 Singles champion”, said Vasanth Kumar Rajendran after the final match, who is a Grade 9 student in Indian School, Abu Dhabi.
Abdul Salam/Nazir Dean and Abdul Latheef/Bhaval Das pairs also advanced to the Finals of Senior Veteran Doubles (above 50 years) category. Abdul Salam and Nazir Dean defeated Sunil Ramanathan and Radhakrishnan S. 21-19, 21-8 and Abdul Latheef and Bhaval Das defeated Rajan Palakkal and Satish Deshai 21-16, 21-15 in their semifinal matches.
Results (13 Jan 2016):
Men Doubles
Quarter Finals:
Avinash S. Kumar & Vinod Kumar bt Endi Maduliah & Jaffer Ibrahim (21-17, 21-18)
Rakesh Ramakrishnan & Raghav Bhatt bt Asep Adriyana & Shamshudeen Ibrahim (21-16, 21-13)
Masters Doubles
Quarter Finals:
Reji Thomas & Shiraz Mohammed bt Bobby Sebastian & Prabhakara Menon (21-16, 21-13)
Veteran Mixed Doubles (above 45 yrs)
Semi Finals:
Santhosh K & Dhanya Bonny bt Abdul Salam & Vivian Silva (16-21, 21-19, 21-17)
Prabhakara Menon & Sarah Caraig bt Riyaz Azar & Binu George Alexy (21-15, 19-21, 22-20)
Senior Veteran Doubles (above 50 yrs)
Semi Finals:
Abdul Salam & Nazir Dean bt Sunil Ramanathan & Radhakrishnan S. (21-19, 21-8)
Abdul Latheef & Bhaval Das bt Rajan Palakkal & Satish Deshai (21-16, 21-15)
(All Finals)
Boys Singles Under 12
Fazim Abdu Anzar bt Naban Abdul Najeeb (21-08, 21-10)
Boys Doubles Under 12
Dhyan Binu Vijay & Shourya Mukund Joshi bt Swaran Krishna & Naban Abdul Najeeb (21-19, 20-22, 21-18)
Boys Singles Under 15
Vasanth Kumar Rajendran bt Adarsh Dinesh Nair (21-19, 21-19)
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