Egypt's Shaimaa Samy Abdellatif moved one step ahead towards her dream – to become first shuttler from Arab countries to win a gold medal at a major championship – after she reached the semi-finals and ensured herself at least a bronze medal at the 4th Fazza Dubai Para badminton International 2022. “It was a difficult match. Last time she beat me in Uganda International 2021, so I was a bit worried before the match. And I tried very hard. I tried to do everything I had done during my training. And luckily, I managed to pull it off. All these wins will push me a step ahead towards my goal. I am so proud of myself,” said the top seed Abdellatif, who battled past Elke Rongen of Germany with 21-19, 20-22, 21-15 win in 53 minutes. The 41-year-old, who has been the face of wheelchair tennis in the country for the last decade and has also played and won medals in Para Athletics, is keenly looking forward to her semi-final match against Korean Kwon Hyunah and hopes to reach the final. Abdellatif, who has a gold in WH1-WH2 mixed doubles at the Uganda International 2021 and singles silver and bronze in Spain Internationals this year, is now hoping to make the cut for the World Championships after Friday’s win had lifted her to the fifth in world rankings. “I want to win a medal at the World Championships.” “Like I did in Para Athletics, I want to make history in a new sport - Para Badminton and raise the popularity of the sport in Egypt, also in Arab and African countries. Para Badminton is a new sport in Africa and we are still working on developing a pool of young para shuttlers in our country,” said the shuttler from Cairo who added saying that Egypt now has around 30 women para shuttlers. “I hope we can have a bigger team this time in the African Championships.” Top shuttlers in semis Elsewhere, India’s Paralympic gold medallist Pramod Bhagat came back from a game down to defeat fellow junior Nehal Gupta in the men’s singles SL3 quarter-finals. Bhagat, who won 18-21, 21-15, 21-11, admitted to have taken time to get to adjust into the game. "I took time to get my rhythm in the match. By that time, Nehal started playing well. He is improving fast and is highly skilled. He has a bright future,“ said Bhagat who will next face Daisuke Fujihara, the Paralympic bronze medallist in mixed doubles, from Japan. Gupta said he would take a lot of learning experience from the match. “I made a lot of errors and lifted the shuttle midcourt in most of the time. But I am happy to have fought back and pulled off a game,” said the 17-year-old who is believed to be next big thing in men’s singles SL3 emerging from India. Gupta now aims to bring variation to his game and Improve his physical strength. Thrilling matches Malaysia’s Paralympic champion Cheah Liek Hou was happy to rediscover his rhythm after reaching the men’s singles SU5 semi-finals with a thrilling 23-21, 21-23, 21-11 win over his compatriot Mohamad Faris Ahmad Azri, who is also the former's men’s doubles partner. The pair has also reached the men’s doubles semi-finals. “I enjoy playing in Dubai. I haven’t set any target though; I just want to enjoy every match here and assess my performance so that we can go back and work on those areas,” said Cheah, who is playing his third event this year. In the other SU5 semi-finals, Indonesian bronze medallist Suryo Nugroho will fight it out against Japan's Taiyo Imai for a place in the final. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Daniel Chan Ho Yuen is keenly looking forward to play the finals where he meets his the winner between Japan’s Daiki Kajiwara and Korean Kim Jung Jung – the match will be a repeat of Tokyo 2020 Paralympic finals. “I am excited.” “I hope I can execute my plans accordingly. Dubai is important tournament for the players in terms of getting ranking points.” Women’s Line-up The women's SL3 semi-final line up has three Indians with reigning world champion Manasi Joshi set to face Australia's Celine Aurelie Vinot while upcoming Mandeep Kaur vs. experienced Parul Parmar will meet in the other semi-final. Joshi is also through to the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 semi-final with partner Ruthick Ragupathi after they pulled off a come from behind win over new pairing of Bhagat and Manisha Ramadass 21-12, 16-21, 19-21. “We are very happy. As we are also a relatively new pair, so I didn’t expect to come this far. Our co-ordination and understanding are the best things in our partnership.” In the women’s SU5 semi-finals, Japan’s Paralympic bronze medallist Akiko Sugino will face compatriot Kaede Kameyama, while India’s Ramadass faces Cathrine Rosengren of Denmark. Japan will also have Paralympic gold medallist and top seed Yuma Yamazaki playing one of the semi-finals against Amnouy Wetwithan in women’s singles WH2.