PV Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag storm into Thailand Open quarter-finals

PV Sindhu and the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the Thailand Open quarter-finals with convincing wins in Bangkok. Sindhu will next face world champion Akane Yamaguchi, while Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth also progressed strongly.

Bangkok: Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and Thomas Cup bronze medallists Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty prevailed in the Thailand Open, a BWF Super 500 badminton tournament, after their respective second wins here on Thursday.

World No. 12 Sindhu registered an easy straight-games 21-13, 21-15 win over Danish shuttler Amalie Schulz in a match that lasted for just 28 minutes.

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This was Sindhu second straight game win in this tournament after the former world champion defeated Chinese Taipei’s Tung Ciou-Tong 21-9, 21-12 in the opening round match.

Sindhu will next play familiar foe and reigning world champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the quarter-final. The Indian ace holds a 15-13 edge over the Japanese in a head-to-head record.

On the other hand, Satwik and Chirag went past the Malaysian duo of Bryan Jeremy Goonting and Muhammad Haikal in straight games, 21-12 and 21-19, in what was the pairs’ first career meeting.

Notably, Satwik and Chirag are the only top seeds in the draw with previous success in the tournament (2019, 2024). They will next take on sixth-seed Japanese duo Takumi Nomura and Yuichi Shimogami for a place in the semifinals.

The top-seed Indians, who entered the tournament fresh from India’s Thomas Cup bronze medal finish, had started off with a 21-19, 21-23, 21-10 win over Indonesians Muh Putra Erwiansyah and Bagas Maulana.

Later in the day, Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Malvika Bansod and Thailand Masters 2026 champion Devika Sihag will be in action.

In the opening round, Srikanth upset eighth seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in straight games, 21-14, 21-15. Lakshya, returning from his injury at the Thomas Cup, defeated Singapore’s Jia Heng Jason Teh 21-16, 21-17 in 43 minutes.

Devika defeated N. Nidaira of Japan in the preliminary round, while World No. 50 Bansod, who is still on the mend from an ACL surgery to her left knee, emerged from a roller-coaster of a contest against Zhang Wen Yu (13-21, 26-24, 21-13).

However, world No. 48 Kharb’s campaign ended in the opening round on Thursday after going down 21-19, 13-21, 18-21 in a hard-fought battle against world No. 4 Chen Yu Fei in a match lasting one hour and ten minutes.