Olympic medallists Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu entered into the women’s singles quarterfinals at the BWF Badminton World Championships in Nanjing, China today.
B Sai Praneeth also eased into the men’s singles quarterfinals. The Indian mixed doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also stood one step away from a medal. However, it was curtains for Kidambi Srikanth.
Saina beat 2013 champion Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand 21-16, 21-19 to set up a meeting with Olympic champion , Carolina Marin of Spain. Sindhu eased past Ji Hyun Sung of Korea 21-10, 21-18 in another third round clash. Sindhu will next play Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
B Sai Praneeth got a comfortable 21-13, 21-11 win over Denmark’s Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus. He will next take on Kento Momoto.
The Rankireddy-Ponnappa mixed doubles pair pulled off a stunning 20-22, 21-14, 21-6 victory over the Malaysian world no.7 combination of Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai. However, Srikanth was outwitted 18-21, 18-21 by Malaysian Daren Liew.