Gimcheon, Korea: The 18 year-old sensation P.V. Sindhu and R.M.V. Gurusaidutt led India’s charge into the singles quarter-finals of the Badminton Asia Championships with hard-fought three-game wins respectively in the women’s and men’s singles competition of the $200,000 event today.
World number 10 Sindhu, finally won her match up against Japan’s Eriko Hirose for the first time in four meetings with 14—21 21—13 21—18 win in an hour and 13 minutes.
The 18-year-old will next take on Thailand’s Busanan Ongbumrungpan in the last eight clashes. Ongbumrungpan notched up an upset 22—24 21—19 21—15 win over third seeded Korean Bae Yeon Ju in another match.
In the men’s singles, Gurusaidutt, who ranked 38 in the world, bounced back after the opening game loss to edge out Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei 17—21 21—13 21—19 in exactly an hour and will face China’s Liu Kai in the next round.
Meanwhile, it was disappointment for Indian ace Parupalli Kashyap, who went down fighting against Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei 25—23 21—17 in another hour-long match.
In women’s doubles competition, Commonwealth Games gold medalist pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta prevailed over third seeded Thailand combo of Aroonkesorn Duanganong and Voravichitchaikul Kunchala 21—11 21—18.
The pair will next take on Malaysia’s Anscelly Amelia Alicia and Soong Fie Cho.
