Dubai, (Samajweekly) Ace India shuttlers PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the Asia Badminton Championship 2033 while compatriot Lakshya Sen made a first-round exit, here on Wednesday.
Sindhu advanced to the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals with a 21-15, 22-20 win over Chinese Taipei’s Wen Chi Hsu. The Indian took 46 minutes to wrap up the win over the Chinese Taipei shuttler.
In the first game, Sindhu trailed 11-14 but the world No. 11 Indian badminton player registered nine points in a row to turn the tables and took the lead.
In the second game, the 27-year old Sindhu faced a tough fight from the Chinese Taipei shuttler early on but managed to race to an 11-7 lead at the break before sealing the issue. This was the first meeting between the two players.
On the other hand, former world championships silver medallist Srikanth progressed into the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals after beating Bahrain’s Adnan Ebrahim 21-13, 21-8. He will face world No. 5 Kodai Naraoka of Japan in the last 16.
Meanwhile, World No 9 Prannoy overcame Phone Pyae Naing of Myanmar 21-14, 21-9 in 32 minutes to set up a pre-quarters clash against Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo.
However, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Lakshya Sen crashed out in the first round after losing 7-21, 21-23 to former world champion and world No. 7 Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.
In the men’s doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat the Malaysian pair of Tan Kian Meng and Tan Wee Kiong 21-14, 21-17.
In the women’s doubles event, the Commonwealth Games bronze medal-winning women’s doubles team of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also advanced into the pre-quarterfinals.
Treesa and Gayatri rallied back after losing the first game to register a 17-21, 21-17, 21-18 win against Indonesia’s Lanny Tria Mayasari and Ribka Sugiart. The match lasted over an hour.
