Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag in Asian Badminton quarters

Manila (Philippines), April 28: Star Indian shuttler PV Sindhu notched up a straight game win over lowly-ranked Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi of Singapore in women’s singles competition to advance to the quarterfinals of Badminton Asia Championships here on Thursday.
The Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also made it to the quarterfinals but it was curtains for London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal and world championships silver winner Kidambi Srikanth.
Sindhu, seeded fourth, defeated Jaslyn Hooi, ranked 100th, 21-16 21-16 in 42 minutes to set up a clash against third seed Chinese He Bing Jiao, whom she had beaten for a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.
World number 7 Sindhu, a double Olympic medallist, has a 7-9 head-to-head record against Bing Jiao, whom she has beaten twice in the last two meetings.
The third seeded mixed doubles duo of Satwik and Chirag too produced a fine performance to sail into the last-eight round with a 21-17 21-15 win over Japan’s Akira Koga and Taichi Saito.
The world number 7 Indian pairing will next face either fifth seeded Malaysian combination of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik or Singaporean duo of Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Jun Liang Andy Kwek.
However, Saina’s dream of claiming her fourth medal in the tournament ended after losing 21-12 7-21 13-21 to China’s Wang Zhi Yi, ranked 16th in the world.
Srikanth went down to China’s Weng Hong Yang 16-21 21-17 17-21 in his singles second round match. (PTI)