NAGPUR, August 1: Parag Modi and Sim Sim Salaria stole the limelight on the second day of the first Maharashtra State Selection Badminton Tournament being organised by Nagpur District Association here, at the University's Subhedar Hall, today.

Modi upset third seed Mayur Tawde, while Salaria shocked second seed Nazneen Karimi on her way to the semi-finals.

Modi, 19, who hails from Nashik and is playing for the Mumbai Suburbs, toppled Tawde 15-12, 15-12, to sail into the penultimate stage.

Modi, who had won all the Junior State tournaments last year, displayed superb skill to subdue his seeded opponent in 45 minutes. Tawde, however, was not at his physical best after having twisted his ankle in the opening game Modi will meet second seed Vijay Lancy, who defeated former Junior National champion Vivek Gautam 15-5, 15-11. Contrary to the what the scoreline suggests, Gautam fought brilliantly against his fancied rival.

Both the shuttlers were offensive and played at a very fast pace but Lancy finally overpowered Gautam in the battle which lasted for 33 minutes.

In the other quarter-finals, top seed Vikrant Patwardhan (MSDBA) routed a local player Kiran Makode 15-2, 15-7 while fourth seed Amrish Shinde (Thane) defeated Bunty Gujral (MSDBA) 15-6, 15-7. Gujral, though in good form, had no answer to Shinde's powerful smashes.

Sim Sim vanquished Nazneen 11-4, 11-2. Karimi's negative play, with her inability to even serve properly, cost her the match.

Top seed Asawari Patwardhan was stretched to three games by unknown Trupti Murgunde of Pune. Asawari, who lost in the quarter-finals of the National Games to the unfancied Glory Xavier (Kerala), was not up to the mark and committed many unforced errors. On the other hand, Murgunde, with the help of her sharp cross-court drops, won the second game 11-8, after losing the first 11-3. Asawari won the decider 11-3 to take the match.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.