Sindhu outclasses Marin, in Malaysia Open semifinals

NEW DELHI: PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth came out with their best on Friday to enter the semi-finals of the $700,000 Malaysia Open in Kuala Lumpur.

Third seed Sindhu displayed exemplary skill, patience and grit to outclass reigning Olympic champion and former world No.1 Carolina Marin of Spain 22-20, 21-19 in 53 minutes in the women’s singles quarter-final.

This was Sindhu’s fifth win over the former World Champion in 11 meetings and third in the last four. She will next play top seed and world No.1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei, who has a 8-3 advantage in career meetings and has beaten the Indian in their last four matches.

Srikanth progressed to the men’s singles last four by beating France’s Brice Leverdez. Fourth seed Srikanth, who won a silver at the Commonwealth Games, dumped world No.22 Leverdez 21-18, 21-14. He will take on 2015 World Championship bronze medallist Kento Momota.

PRAJAKTA CRIES FOUL

NEW DELHI: Prajakta Sawant has lashed out at the Badminton Association of India for withdrawing ‘without consent’ her entry with Malaysia’s Yogendran Khrishnan from the mixed doubles category of the World Championship. “Our entry was confirmed by both sides from Malaysia as well as India but BAI withdrew my entry without my permission. This is a very unprofessional,” said Sawant.