Australian Open: PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy enter quarter-finals

Top Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth and HS Prannoy moved into the quarterfinals of the Australia Open badminton BWF Super 500 tournament with contrasting victories on Thursday. The fifth seed Sindhu, who had lost in the first round at seven different tour events this season and is playing under a new personal coach in Malaysia’s Muhammad Hafiz Hashim, easily overcame compatriot Aakarshi Kashyap 21-14 21-10 in a second round women’s singles match. The double Olympic medallist Sindhu will face fourth seed Beiwen Zhang of the USA in the quarterfinal. In men’s singles, Srikanth stormed past Li Yang Su of Chinese Taipei 21-10, 21-17, while sixth seed Prannoy had to fight for one hour and 14 minutes to get past Chinese Taipei’s Yu Jen Chi 21-19, 21-19, 21-13. Rising Indian shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat also continued with his impressive run, reaching the quarterfinals by beating Chinese Taipei’s Tzu Wei Wang 21-8, 13-21, 21-19 in a tough contest that lasted for 59 minutes. However, it was curtains for two other Indian men’s singles shuttlers Mithun Manjunath and Kiran George. Manjunath, who had stunned fourth seed and world No 7 Kean Yew Loh of Singapore in the opening round, lost 13-21 21-12 19-21 against Malaysia’s Zii Jia Lee. George was no match for top seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia, losing the contest in straight games 15-21 18-21. While Prannoy has a tough opponent in Ginting to deal with in the quarterfinals, it will be a contest between two Indians: the seasoned Srikanth and young Rajawat. In women’s doubles, the Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela also crashed out in the second round, losing to fourth seeds Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara of Japan 10-21 20-22. The tournament is the last event before the World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. The BWF World Tour is divided into six levels, namely World Tour Finals, four Super 1000, six Super 750, seven Super 500, and 11 Super 300. One other category of the tournament, the BWF Tour Super 100 level, also offers ranking points.