Sindhu, Prannoy advance, Srikanth out of Asia Championship
Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu on Thursday stormed into the quarterfinals of the women’s singles event at the Badminton Asia Championships with a straight-game win over China’s Han Yu in Dubai.
Apart from Sindhu, India’s top men’s singles shuttler HS Prannoy made it to the quarter-finals but it ended for compatriot Kidambi Srikanth.
Eighth seed Prannoy battled for an hour and two minutes to beat Indonesian Chiko Aura Dwi Wardoyo 16-21 21-5 18-21 in his round of 16 match, while Srikanth was ousted by the fourth seeded Japanese. . Kodai Naroka 14-21 22-20 9-21.
Prannoy will now play Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan.
Sindhu was at her lethal best as she took just 33 minutes to beat Yu 21-12 21-15 in the Round of 16 match.
Eighth seed Sindhu will now take on second seed An Se Young of Korea.
In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy advanced to the quarterfinals, after fourth seeded Korean pair Seo Seung Jae Chae Yoo Jung gave the Indians a walkover.
The Indian pair will take on Indonesian pair Dejan Ferdinsyah Gloria Emanuel Widjaja in the next round.
However, it was an end to B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa in the mixed doubles as they went down 15-21 17-21.
The sixth seeded Indian pair of Sankireddy and Chirag Shetty also entered the quarterfinals of the men’s doubles event after beating Jin Yong and Na Sung Seung 21-13, 21-11.
The Indian combination will take on the third seeded Indonesian pair of Mohd Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
