PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy advance, Srikanth crashes out of Asia Championships

PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth (Pic: AFP)

A fiery PV Sindhu roared into the quarterfinals of the women's singles event at the Badminton Asia Championships with a straight-game win over China's Han Yue on Thursday. Besides Sindhu, India's ace men's singles shuttler HS Prannoy sailed into the quarters but it was curtains for compatriot Kidambi Srikanth.

While Prannoy, seeded eighth, had to battle it out for an hour and two minutes to prevail over Indonesian Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo 16-21 21-5 18-21 in a round of 16 match, Srikanth was shown the door by fourth-seeded Japanese Kodai Naraoka 14-21 22-20 9-21. Prannoy will square up against Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan.

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu, as usual, was at her lethal best as she took just 33 minutes to beat Yue 21-12 21-15 in a round of 16 match. Eighth-seeded Sindhu will next play second-seed An Se Young of Korea.

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In mixed doubles, Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy entered the quarterfinals after the fourth-seeded Korean pair of Seo Seung Jae Chae Yu Jung handed the Indians a walkover.

The Indian duo will next meet the Indonesian pair of Dejan Ferdinansyah Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja. However, it was curtains for B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa from the mixed doubles as they lost 15-21 17-21.

Sixth-seeded Indian pair of Sankireddy and Chirag Shetty also progressed to the quarterfinals of the men's doubles event with a convincing 21-13 21-11 win over Jin Yong and Na Sung Seung.

The Indian combination will take on the third-seeded Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.

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(With PTI inputs)