India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty ousted Japan’s Akira Koga and Taichi Saito 21-17, 21-15 in the second round of the Asian Campionships in Manila, Philippines on Thursday.
With this win, the Satwik-Chirag duo have progressed to the quarterfinals of the tournament. The world number 7 Indian pairing will face next either fifth seeded Malaysian Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik or the Singaporean duo of Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Jun Liang Andy Kwek.
Shortly after, P V Sindhu continued her brilliant form and sealed a spot in the women’s singles quarterfinals with a comfortable 21-16, 21-16 win against Singapore’s Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi.
Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal was knocked out of the tournament after losing 21-12, 7-21, 21-13 to China’s Wang Zhi Yi in a match that went on for 47 minutes.
Saina won the first game with ease but the Chinese international made a powerful comeback to pocket the remaining games to seal the deal. A couple of costly service errors by Saina in the third set made it that much easier for Wang Zhi Yi.
Later today, Kidambi Srikanth will be up against China’s Weng Hong Yang in the men’s singles game.