Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth entered the quarterfinals in the singles event at the World Badminton Championships here on Thursday.
Sindhu, who won a bronze medal at the 2013 and 2014 editions, survived a scare against Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi before prevailing 19-21, 23-21, 21-17 in a thrilling women’s singles match that lasted an hour and 27 minutes. The 22-year-old Indian fought back from 13-16 down in the second game after losing the first to eventually come up trumps. She will face fifth seed Sun Yu of China next.
Srikanth, however, eased into the last eight with yet another straight-game win over Denmark’s Anders Antonsen in men’s singles. On a 12-match winning streak, Srikanth knocked out the World No 18 Antonsen 21-14, 21-18. The World No 10 Indian will clash with top seed and World No 1 Korean Son Wan Ho in the quarterfinals.
Saina Nehwal too booked her last eight berth, defeating Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea 21-19, 21-15.
It was curtains for B Sai Praneeth, who went down 21-19, 21-10, 21-12 to Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan.
India’s top mixed doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and N Sikki Reddy, seeded 15th, played their heart out before going down 22-20, 18-21, 18-21 to Indonesian World Number 6 duo of Debby Susanto and Praveen Jordan.
Sindhu found the going tough against her World No 17 opponent, who held a slender 11-9 lead at the break. After the interval, Sindhu clawed back with two points but the duel between the two became more fierce as they moved neck and neck till 19-19 when the Hong Kong girl moved ahead to earn the bragging rights. Jolted by the first game reversal, Sindhu opened up a 4-0 lead but Cheung drew parity at 9-9 before grabbing an 11-10 advantage at the interval.
The Hong Kong girl then moved to a 16-13 lead. Sindhu, however, turned the tables at 17-16 and had three game point at 20-17. Cheung accumulated three points and was tied 21-21 when the Indian marched ahead. In the decider, Sindhu moved to a 11-6 lead early on but Cheung once again caught up with the Indian at 12-12. Sindhu then distanced herself, reaching 15-12 before comfortably grabbing five match points at 20-15 and winning in style.
On Wednesday, Ajay Jayaram disposed off Netherland’s Mark Caljouw 21-13, 21-18 to advance to the pre-quarterfinals. Rituparna Das went down 16-21, 13-21 to local favourite Kirsty Gilmour.
Yamaguchi stunned
China’s Chen Yufei knocked out Japan’s top seed Akane Yamaguchi in the third round.
The 19-year-old reigning world junior champion shocked the Japanese favourite with a straight games 21-18, 21-19.
China’s Lin Dan came from behind to keep alive his hopes of a sixth world title on Wednesday as the 33-year-old saw off Denmark’s Emil Holst 19-21, 21-8, 21-16 .
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