The Indian badminton team has advanced to the semifinals of the Deaflympics, which are taking place in Caxias do Sul, Brazil. They beat Turkey 3-1 in the quarterfinals; Abhinav Yadav defeated Furkan Buyukgoze 21-13, 21-16 in 26 minutes to ensure India grab the lead in the do-or-die quarterfinal.

In the women’s singles, Jerlin Jayaratchagan followed in his footsteps, defeating Hale Nur Kucuksevgilli 21-11, 21-10 in 19 minutes to put India in a commanding position. Out walked the men’s doubles team of Hritik Anand and Rohit Bhaker, who needed only one match win to qualify for the semifinals. The duo, on the other hand, was defeated by Buyukgoze and Dogukan Yilmaz in just 27 minutes, losing 20-22, 15-21.

But, in the next 34 minutes, the Indian women’s doubles duo of Jerlin and Shreya Singla put an end to any chances of a comeback by the Turkish pair.

Jerlin and Singla calmed the Indian camp’s nerves by winning the first game 21-14. They did lose a close second game 19-21, but kept their cool to win the decider 21-13 and advance India to the semifinals.

India had beaten hosts Brazil 5-0 earlier in the day to win Group D and top their pool. At 10:30 p.m. IST tonight, India will face Chinese Taipei in the semifinals. South Korea and Japan will compete in the other semifinal at the same time. The victors of both semifinals will advance to the final, whereas the losing teams will compete for third place to get on the podium.