Saina, Sindhu face off in quarter-finals

JAKARTA: Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu will meet in an all-indian quarterfinal clash after both won their respective preliminary matches at the $350,000 Indonesia Masters, adding another chapter to their new rivalry.

London Olympics bronzemedallist Saina, who is coming back from an ankle injury, took 37 minutes to overcome World No.20 Chinese Chen Xiaoxin 21-12, 21-18, while Sindhu stream- rolled Goh Jin Wei of Malaysia 21-12, 21-9 in a onesided contest.

Young men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty too entered the quarterfinals after getting past Chinese Taipei’s Liao Min Chun and Su Ching Heng 21-17, 21-16 in the second round.

SINDHU, SAINA FINAL ON CARDS AT INDIA OPEN

NEW DELHI: : India’s top shuttlers PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal could be pitted against each other in the $350,000 India Open 2018 Badminton Championship, scheduled here from Jan 30-Feb 4. The men’s section could see a repeat of last edition’s summit clash with world champion and holder Viktor Axelsen and Kidambi Srikanth seeded first and second.

In the women’s event, two Indian stars can well run into each other in the summit clash if Sindhu lives up her billing as top seed and Saina pulls off an upset in the semi-final.