Harpal Singh Bedi
Fifth seed PV Sindhu chalked out an easy straight game win over compatriot Aakarshi Kashyap while HS Prannoy,pulled off a come from behind victory over 42 Chi Yu Jen of Chinese Taipei to move into the quarter-finals of the Australian OpenBadminton in Sydney on Thursday.
Playing on the badminton courts of the State Sports Centre, World no 17 Sindhu, faced a brief resistance from World no 40 AakarshiKashyap but the two-time Olympic medalist overcame the challenge with ease to pocket the match 21-14,21-10 in 39 minutes.
Former world champion will take on the fourth seedUSA’s Beiwen Zhang, , on Friday for a place in the semi-finals. In the men’s singles sixth seed Prannoy, survived a scare before emerging 19-21, 21-19, 21-13 winner against Chi Yu Jen in the roundof 16. Prannoy lost the closely-fought opening game to Chi Yu Jen of the Chinese Taipei. However, he made a furious comeback after trailingthe second game 0-6 to force a decider. In the third game, the Indian dominated his rival to clinch the match in 74 minutes.
In the quarters, the 31-year-old Indian will face Indonesia’s world No. 2 and top seed, Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, who defeatedKiran George (India) 21-15, 21-18.
Former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth and Priyanshu Rajawat also advanced to the quarter-finals of the BWF Super 500 event. Srikanth,defeated Chinese Taipei’s Su Li Yang 21-10, 21-17 in 39 minutes to seal a berth in the final eight. He will square off againstfellow Indian and Orleans Masters champion Priyanshu Rajawat, who beat world No. 28 Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei 21-8, 13-21, 21-19.
Mithun Manjunath’s luck ran out as he went down 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 to world No. 17 Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the round of 16 encounterwhich lasted for over an hour. The Indian had registered an upset win over world No. 7 and former world champion Loh Kean Yew on Wednesday.
In the women’s doubles, two-time world champion Japanese pair of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara knocked out Gayatri Gopichand andTreesa Jolly 21-10, 22-20 in the round of 16 clash.
India’s challenge in the mixed doubles had ended after B Sumeeth Reddy-Ashwini Ponnappa and Rohan Kapoor-N Sikki Reddy were knocked outin their opening round matches on Wednesday.
The Australian Open results will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics.