Sindhu, Kiran enter quarters, Satwik-Chirag too advance

NEW DELHI, Jan 16: Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu progressed to the quarterfinals, while Kiran George delivered a gritty performance under pressure to keep the home flag flying in men’s singles at the India Open badminton tournament here on Thursday.
Title contenders Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who had won the 2022 edition, recovered from an opening game reversal to beat Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi and Hiroki Okamura 20-22 21-14 21-16 to inch closer to the crown.
Sindhu cruised past Japan’s world No. 46 Manami Suizu with a 21-15 21-13 win, while Kiran pulled off a stunning recovery.
Saving six game points to outlast Alex Lanier 22-20 21-13 to enter his maiden quarterfinals of a super 750 event at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall here.
Sindhu, a former world champion, will now face Paris Olympics bronze medallist Gregoria Mariska Tunjung.
While Kiran will take on left-handed Chinese shuttler Hong Yang Weng in the next round.
In other results, mixed doubles pair of Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila went down to eighth seed Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito 18-21 17-21.
Women’s doubles combination of Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha, Rutuparna Panda and Swetaparna Panda and mixed doubles pair of Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh also were knocked out in the second round.
SINDHU V SUIZU
Sindhu made a strong start, leading 11-6 at the break. Although Suizu briefly narrowed the gap to 11-13 and 13-14, Sindhu was always a step ahead, with the Japanese player unable to cope with the Indian’s powerful smashes.
Sindhu continued to hit deep returns and used precise drops to trouble Suizu. Soon, she was 20-14 up and sealed the game when the Japanese hit the net.
After the change of sides, Sindhu raced to a 5-0 lead.
The second game was all about the Indian as she found cross court winners at will, quickly establishing a dominant 11-2 lead at the interval, and it became clear that Suizu had no answers. (PTI)