JOIN USFour Indians in quarters of Swiss badminton tournament
Four Indian shuttlers, including double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and World Championships silver winner Kidambi Srikanth, progressed to the quarterfinals of the Swiss Open badminton tournament on Thursday.
While Sindhu, a former world champion, eased into the last 8 with a 21-19 21-14 win over Neslihan Yigit of Turkey, Srikanth staved off a spirited challenge from France's Christo Popov, ranked 60th, with a fighting 13-21 25-23 21-11 win in the Super 300 tournament. Second seed Sindhu will square off against either fifth seed Canada's Michelle Li or Denmark's Line Christophersen.
Seventh-seeded Srikanth, who had missed the Indian leg of the BWF tour in January after testing positive for Covid-19, will face second-seeded Dane Anders Antonsen next.
Former top 10 player HS Prannoy also struggled past Finland's Kalle Kolionen 19-21 21-13 21-9 to find a place in the quarters as did former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap after top seed and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen gave a walkover.
In other results, third seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 19-21 20-22 to Indonesian pairing of Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan in the men's doubles. In the women's singles, Ashmita Chaliha put up a tough fight before going down 18-21 20-22 to eighth seeded Scot Kirsty Gilmour in the second round.
On Wednesday night, Sindhu had entered the second round with a 21-14 21-12 win over Denmark's Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt here. Sindhu, also a former world champion, will face Neslihan Yigit of Turkey late in the day.
Also progressing was the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, who got the better of local pair Aline Muller and Jenjira Stadelmann 21-15 21-16 in straight games.
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