Saina, Sindhu in quarters of Asian meet, Srikanth up
WUHAN : Commonwealth Games gold medallist Saina Nehwal and Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu produced dominating performance to progress to the women’s quarter-finals of Asia Badminton Championship.
Top seed Kidambi Srikanth and world number 10 H S Prannoy also advanced to the last eight stage in men’s singles in contrasting fashion.
Saina, a London Olympics bronze medallist, continued her impressive run as she kept a tight leash on China’s Gao Fangjie, outwitting her 21-18 21-8 in a 40-minute clash. The former world No 1 will now face unseeded Korean Lee Jang Mi, who saw off Thailand’s former world champion Ratchanok Intanon.
Third seed Sindhu, who won a silver at the Commonwealth Games, too notched up a commanding 21-12 21-15 win over another Chinese Chen Xiaoxin in another pre-quarterfinal match. She will take on either seventh seed Korean Sung Ji Hyun or Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan next.
Srikanth, however, did not have to break any sweat as his opponent Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent retired at 2-7 in the first game to hand over the quarterfinal spot to the Indian, who had held the world number one spot for a week this month.
The 25-year-old from Guntur will face three-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei tomorrow.
Srikanth had beaten Lee en route India’s gold medal at the mixed team championship of the Commonwealth Games but the legendary Malaysian was quick to exact revenge when he beat the Indian for the individual gold at Gold Coast.
Prannoy, who had reached the quarterfinals at All England Championship, meanwhile, bounced back from a game down to eke out a difficult 16-21 21-14 21-12 win over Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei. He next faces second seed Son Wan Ho of Korea.
Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth, however, went down 12-21 12-21 to Olympic champion Chen Long, seeded third. Young men’s doubles pair of Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok too found the going tough against the top seeded Chinese combination of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen, losing 11-21 19-21.
Women’s doubles pair of Meghana Jakkapudi and Poorvisha S Ram also was no match for seventh seeded Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajong and were outdone 9-21 9-21 in just 23 minutes.
OSTAPENKO ADVANCES
STUTTGART: Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko continued to build for her Paris title defence with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Zarina Diyas on Thursday at the Stuttgart Grand Prix.
The Latvian was joined in the quarter-finals at the Porsche arena by fifth seed Karolina Pliskova as the Czech beat Russian qualifier Veronika Kudermetova 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
YUKI AND BOPANNA FOR ARJUNA AWARD
NEW DELHI: The All India Tennis Association (AITA) has nominated Yuki Bhambri and doubles expert Rohan Bopanna for the Arjuna award. AITA Secretary General Hironmoy Chatterjee confirmed that they have nominated the two players. “Yes, we have recommended them,” said Chatterjee. Yuki recently reclaimed his place in top-100, achieving his career-best rank of 83. “It’s an honour to be nominated. It’s acknowledgment of my hard work,” said Yuki.
Bopanna, who had won the French Open mixed doubles title last year with Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, was nominated last year after the deadline had passed.