Badminton Asia C’ships: Sindhu, Satwiksairaj-Shetty advance into quarter-finals

Manila: Two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu defeated Singapore’s Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi in straight games to reach the quarter-finals of the women’s singles at the Badminton Asia Championships here on Thursday.

Fourth seed Sindhu, who won a bronze medal at the 2014 Asia Championships in Gimcheon, defeated lowly-ranked Jaslyn Hooi 21-16 21-16 in 42 minutes.

In her next match, Sindhu will take on third seed He Bing Jiao of China, whom she had beaten for a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

Sindhu has won seven matches against Bing Jiao but has lost nine. The Indian player, however, has registered victories in both the previous matches.

Third seed Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also made it to the last eight after beating the Japanese pair of Akira Koga and Taichi Saito 21-17 21-15 in straight games.

The world No. 7 Indian pair will next face the winner of the match between fifth seeded Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik and the Singaporean duo of Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Jun Liang Andy Kwek.

Saina Nehwal will be in action in the women’s singles category while Kidambi Srikanth will be up against China’s Weng Hong Yang in the men’s singles game today.