Finance
P.V. Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the quarterfinals of the Madrid Spain Masters badminton tournament with straight-game victories in their respective singles matches.
Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medalist, defeated Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia 21-16, 21-14 in 36 minutes of play. She will next face Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark, whom she defeated in the Round of 16 at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Indian ace has a 5-1 head-to-head advantage over the Danish shuttler. The pair will meet for the first time since the Olympics in Tokyo on Friday.
Sindhu has struggled for form this season after returning from a long injury layoff after winning gold in the women’s singles at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham.
The former world champion has dropped out of the top 10 in the women’s singles BWF rankings for the first time since November 2016, after parting ways with her South Korean coach Park Tae-sang.
Srikanth, on the other hand, defeated compatriot Sai Praneeth 21-15, 21-12 to advance to the last eight.
Srikanth, seeded fifth in the tournament, will face top seed Japanese shuttler Kenta Nishimoto in the quarterfinals, who was given a walkover by Frenchman Arnaud Merkle in the second round.
In other matches, Kiran George, Priyanshu Rajawat, Sameer Verma, and Ashmita Chaliha all lost in the second round.
George was defeated in 31 minutes by Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen, while Rajawat was defeated 14-21, 15-21 by France’s eighth seed Toma Junior Popov. In the men’s singles, Verma fell 15-21, 14-21 to second-seeded Japanese Kanta Tsuneyama.
Chaliha lost 15-21, 15-21 to Singapore’s Yeo Jia Min in the women’s singles, while Malvika Bansod gave a walkover to home favourite and Rio Olympic champion Carolina Marin.
Source:OCN
