India’s no.1 women shuttler PV Sindhu defeated China’s Yue Han in straight games 21-12, 21-15 to storm into the Asia Badminton Championships 2023. Sindhu was at her lethal best and produced a dominating performance to ease past Yue Han in just 33 minutes. The two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu will next take on second-seeded An Se Young to seal a spot in the semifinal. Fans are eagerly waiting for the exciting battle between the two top seeds as the 21-year-old South Korean has an impressive unbeaten record against the Indian in their five previous clashes.
World no.11 Sindhu displayed fine court movements to race to a 20-11 lead and then sealed the opening game with ease. But world no.8 Yue Han returned stronger in the second game and was four points behind at the break. From thereon, the duo exchanged some rallies. However, the Chinese shuttler failed to capitalize on the opportunities and eventually lost the match.
In men’s singles, eighth-seeded HS Prannoy battled hard to secure a 21-16, 5-21, 21-18 win over Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo. Prannoy battled it out for an hour and a minute to prevail over the Indonesian in a round-of-16 match. With a fighting win, the 30-year-old Indian has set up a last-eight clash with Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan. Meanwhile, former world no.1 Kidmabi Srikanth was shown the door after suffering a 14-21, 22-20, 9-21 loss to fourth-seeded Kodai Naraoka of Japan. Srikanth advanced to the round-of-16 after defeating Bahrain’s Adnan Ebrahum in straight games 21-13, 21-8.
India’s men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the quarter-finals with a convincing 21-13, 21-11 win over Korea’s Jin Yong and Na Sung Seung. World Championships bronze medallists Satwik and Chirag will square off against the third-seeded Indonesian pair of Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan to advance into the semifinal. In the mixed doubles category, Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy reached the last-eight stage after their opponent Seo Seung Jae and Chae Yu Jung of Korea handed the Indians a walkover. The Indian duo will next meet the Indonesian pair of Dejan Ferdinansyah and Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja.
However, it was curtains for B Sumeeth Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa from the mixed doubles as they lost 15-21, 17-21 to Chinese Taipei’s Chang Ko-Chi and Lee Chih Chen. In women’s doubles, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand pulled out ahead of their second-round match due to injury.
