Sindhu knocked out, Srikanth in quarters
HONG KONG: In a mixed outing for Indian shuttlers at the $400,000 Hong Kong Open, while Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma progressed to the quarter-finals, it was Rio Olympics silver medallist PV Sindhu who had to bite the dust, going down in a tough fight in Hong Kong on Thursday.
South Korean Sung Ji Hyun got the better of third seed Sindhu 26-24, 22-20 in 58 minutes and will take on Chinese eighth seed He Bingjiao in the women’s singles last eight of the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament.
With the victory, world No.10 Sung bettered her record to 6-8 against the Hyderabadi.
Earlier in the day, fourth seed Srikanth, who had claimed a silver at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, had to dig deep to outwit compatriot HS Prannoy 18-21, 30-29, 21-18 in a thrilling second round contest that lasted an hour and seven minutes.
Srikanth will next face Japanese eighth seed Kenta Nishimoto.
Sameer qualified for the quarter-finals after his formidable opponent, Olympic champion Chen Long of China pulled out due to injury.
Verma will take on local hope Lee Cheuk Yiu on Friday.
However, the mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 17-21, 11-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Lee Yang and Hsu Ya Ching to bow out.
Chinese Taipei’s men’s doubles pairing of Lee Jhe-huei and Lee Yang then beat Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy 21-16, 21-15 in 27 minutes in the second round.