Wardani Putri Kusuma: India’s main hopes in badminton maintained their chances of finishing on the podium as PV Sindhu in women’s singles, HS Prannoy in men’s singles, and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy/Chirag Shetty in men’s doubles secured their place in the quarterfinals of the Asian Games badminton competitions here on Wednesday.Sindhu defeated Indonesia’s Wardani Putri Kusuma in straight games in a Round of 16 clash; Prannoy brushed aside Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Panarin in 29 minutes while Rankireddy and Shetty were taken to three games but emerged winners against Leo Rollycarnando and Daniel Marthin of Indonesia, 24-22, 16-21, 21-12 in 84 minutes.
However, the upcoming women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Pullela Gayatri Gopichand exited the competition after a hard-fought battle against the reigning Olympic bronze medallist pair Soyeong Kim and Heeyong Kong, ranked third in the world, in 82 minutes. The Indian duo lost 15-21, 21-18, 13-21 in the pre-quarterfinals encounter.
Former World No.1 Kidambi Srikanth also crashed out, losing to Kodai Naraoka of Japan 16-21, 17-21 in 54 minutes.
The mixed doubles pair of Sai Pratheek and Tanisha Crasto lost to Malaysia’s Tang Jie Chen and Ee Wei Toh, 18-21, 18-21.
Tanisha had no luck in the women’s doubles too as she and Ashwini China’s Zhang Shuxian and Yu Zheng, 13-21, 21-23.
Sindhu was the first Indian to take to the courts at the Binjiang Gymnasium and stayed on the court for nearly an hour as she won in straight games, 21-16, 21-16.
In the first game, Sindhu opened an early lead and did not have to sweat much, winning six points in a row as she went on to win the game 21-16.
In the second game, the Indonesian shuttler led 3-0 before Sindhu took control of the proceedings from 1-4 down to surge to a 9-4 lead. The 27-year-old Indian maintained her advantage and went on to win the game 21-16 to seal a place in the last-eight stage.
Prannoy was in and out of the court in a jiffy as he raced to victory in just 29 minutes.
