Determination writ large on his bearded face as he had lost to Doshi when the two last met about a month ago during the selection trials for the World Juniors, Kohli battled on desp[ite the loss of first game to win at 13-15, 15-12, 15-9, 15-14.

Kohli will now vie for the champion's purse of Rs 7,500 with Awish Jaiswal, the top seed. Jaiswal settled the aspirations of Abhijit Kukreja, who had stormed into the men's semi-finals last night by surprising fourth seeded Neeraj Shirgaonkar, with a a runaway 15-6, 15-12, 15-9 victory. Kukreja simply could not reproduce the same form.

Just 13, Siddharth Suchde played impressively while defeating Jaikaran Juneja 15-8, 15-12, 15-11 and reaching the under-16 final. he now takes on the top seed JunaidNathani.

Santosh More shocked Rajesh Verma, the top seed who had sustained a fall yesterday and hence not fit. to reach the finals of the professionals event. He now meets Chandrakant Pawar.

Results (all semi-finals): Men's:

Manish Choitrani bt Saket Wali 15-9, 15-8, 15-9.

Professionals: Chandrakant Pawar bt Ananth More 15-6, 15-13, 10-15, 10-15, 15-13, Santosh More bt Rajesh Verma 15-12, 15-6, 15-4.

Junior boys (u-19): Amit Pal Kholi bt Parath Doshi 13-15, 15-12, 15-9, 15-14.

Junior boys (u-16): Junaid Nathani bt Sahil Vora 13-15, 15-3, 15-8, 15-2, Siddharth Suchde bt Jaikaran Juneja 15-8, 15-12, 15-11.

Women's: Mekhala Subedar bt Reha Bandhari 15-9, 15-7, 10-1 15-4.