Badminton Asia Championships 2023: Sindhu, Prannoy, Satwik-Chirag reach quarter-finals, Srikanth exits

Indian star shuttlers PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy and the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the Badminton Asia Championships 2023 quarter-finals.

While Kidambi Srikanth crashed out in Dubai on Thursday. The two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu defeated China’s Yue Han 21-12, 21-15 in just over half-a-hour. Sindhu will next meet second-seeded An Se Young, who has an impressive unbeaten record against Sindhu in their five previous clashes.

Prannoy, who is seeded eighth, secured a 21-16, 5-21, 21-18 win over Indonesia’s Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in 61 minutes to set up a quarter-final tie with Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama. Meanwhile, former world number one Srikanth suffered a 14-21, 22-20, 9-21 lose to fourth-seeded Kodai Naraoka.

World Championships bronze medallists Satwik and Chirag dispatched Korea’s Jin Yong and Na Sung Seung to set up a quarter-final clash with third-seeded Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia.

In the mixed doubles category, Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy reached the last-eight stage after their opponent Korea’s Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yu Jung gave a walkover. The Indian pair will next meet Dejan Ferdinansyah and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja of Indonesia.

Another mixed pair of B. Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa were knocked out in the round of 16 after losing to Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ko-Chi and Lee Chih Chen 15-21, 17-21. In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand pulled out ahead of their second-round match due to injury.