Indonesia Masters Badminton: Sindhu, Srikanth, Prannoy enter quarterfinals; Lakshya, Sikki-Dhruv bow out

While
Sindhu
overcame
Spain’s
Clara
Azurmendi
to
reach
the
last
8
of
the
women’s
singles
event,
Srikanth
fought
hard
to
beat
Indonesia’s
Jonathan
Christie
to
reach
the
last
8
stage,
and
Prannoy
stunned
second
seed
Viktor
Axelsen
of
Denmark.

Playing
against
the
world
no
47
Azurmendi
for
the
first
time,
Sindhu,
who
is
seeded
third,
took
47
minutes
to
record
a
17-21
21-7
21-12
in
the
women’s
singles
second
round
clash.

The
two-time
Olympic
medallist
will
now
lock
horns
with
world
no
30
unseeded
Turkish
shuttler
Neslihan
Yigit
in
the
quarterfinals.
Sindhu
has
a
3-0
head-to-head
record
against
the
Turkish.

Srikanth,
meanwhile,
took
little
over
an
hour
after
going
a
game
down
to
get
the
better
of
sixth
seeded
Christie
13-21,
21-18,
21-15.
In
the
quarterfinal,
he
will
face
his
compatriot
Prannoy,
who
came
from
a
game
down
to
beat
Axelsen
14-21,
21-19,
21-16.

However,
it
was
curtains
for
young
Lakshya
Sen
in
the
men’s
singles
event
and
the
mixed
doubles
pairing
of
Dhruv
Kapila
and
N
Sikki
Reddy.

The
20-year-old
Lakshya,
who
had
reached
the
semi-finals
at
Hylo
Open
Super
500
and
final
of
Dutch
Open
recently,
went
down
13-21
19-21
to
the
top
seed
and
two-time
world
champion
Kento
Momota
of
Japan
in
a
46-minute
clash.

Kapila
and
Sikki,
on
the
other
hand,
lost
a
hard
fought
15-21
23-21
18-21
battle
to
Thai
duo
of
Supak
Jomkoh
and
Supissara
Paewsampran
in
the
second
round
mixed
doubles
match.

Meanwhile,
women’s
doubles
pair
of
Ashwini
Ponnappa
and
Sikki
Reddy
will
be
in
action
later
on
Thursday
(November
18)
when
they
face
Thailand’s
third
seeded
pair
of
Jongkolphan
Kititharakul
and
Rawinda
Prajongjai
in
the
last
16
match.

(With
PTI
inputs)