Badminton Asia Championships: PV Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag enters quarterfinals; Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth win too

Indian shuttler PV Sindhu (Source/Twitter)

India's premier shuttler PV Sindhu thrashed lowly-ranked Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi of Singapore in straight games to enter the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Championships on Thursday. 

The fourth-seeded Indian, who had claimed a bronze in the 2014 Gimcheon edition, defeated Jaslyn Hooi, ranked 100th, 21-16 21-16 in 42 minutes to set up a clash with third seed Chinese He Bing Jiao, whom she had beaten for a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy & Chirag Shetty move into QF of Badminton Asia Championships with 21-17, 21-15 win over WR 23 Japanese duo in 2nd round. #BadmintonAsiaChampionships2022 pic.twitter.com/j6dypXg9iY — India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) April 28, 2022

Sindhu has a 7-9 head-to-head record against Bing Jiao, whom she has beaten twice in the last two meetings.

The third-seeded Indian men's doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also made it to the quarterfinals with a 21-17 21-15 win over Japan's Akira Koga and Taichi Saito.

The world number 7 Indian pairing will face next either fifth-seeded Malaysian Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik or the Singaporean duo of Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Jun Liang Andy Kwek.

Earlier on Wednesday, London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal, who has been on a comeback trail after recovering from some nagging injuries, also had to break her sweat to eke out a 21-15 17-21 21-13 win over Sim Yujin of South Korea. While Sindhu will next play Singapore's Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi, Saina will be up against China's Zhi Yi Wang.

The other remaining Indian in the women's singles, Malvika Bansod too squandered a game lead before going down 9-21 21-17 26-24 against Yeo Jia Min of Singapore in another hard-fought tie.

It turned out to be a disappointing outing for world championships bronze medal winner Lakshya Sen, who was stunned by the unseeded Li Shi Feng of China.

The fifth-seeded Indian lost 21-12 10-21 19-21 in his opening round men's singles tie that lasted 56 minutes. World No. 19 Sai Praneeth suffered a straight game 17-21 13-21 defeat against Jonatan Christie of Indonesia.

Seventh-seeded Kidambi Srikanth, however, kept India's flag flying in the men's singles competition by progressing to the second round with a straight-game win over Tze Yong Ng of Malaysia.

Srikanth defeated his rival 22-20 21-15 to set up a clash against Chinese qualifier Weng Hong Yang in the second round. It was also the end of the road for Aakarshi Kashyap, who lost 15-21 9-21 to Japanese top seed Akane Yamaguchi in the women's singles.

Both the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Bhat K and Shikga Gautam, and Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker also made opening round exits after losing in straight games.

While Bhat and Gautam went down 19-21 12-21 to Anna Ching Yik Cheong and Teoh Mei Xing of Malaysia, Singhi and Thaker lost 15-21 11-21 to seventh-seeded Malaysian pair of Pearly Tan and Muralitharan Thinaah.