Thailand Open: Sindhu reaches quarters, Srikanth pulls out

Sindhu, seeded sixth, took 37 minutes to defeat world No 46 Sim Yu Jin of South Korea 21-16, 21-13 in the Round of 16 at the Impact Arena.

Both Sindhu and her Korean opponent matched the intensity in the early exchanges of the first game and were tied at 5-all. However, the Indian ace took command of the proceedings by scoring nine of the next 10 points and went on to win the game with ease.

The 26-year-old only tightened her grip on the match in the second game and sealed her place in the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open. This was Sindhu's second win over Sim Yu Jin in as many matches. She had come from behind to defeat the South Korean shuttler in three games at last year's Indonesia Open.

Sindhu, India's only remaining challenge at the BWF Super 500 tournament, will next face world No 1 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the quarter-finals on Friday. While Sindhu enjoys a 13-9 head-to-head record against Yamaguchi, the Indian shuttler had lost to the Japanese player in the semi-finals of the Badminton Asia championships last month.

Earlier in the day, Kidambi Srikanth pulled out from his round of 16 match against Ireland's Nhat Nguyen. The reason for his withdrawal is not yet known.

Meanwhile, the upcoming Indian shuttler Malvika Bansod lost to world No 22 Line Christophersen of Denmark 21-16, 14-21, 14, 21. The women's doubles pair of Ashwini Bhat K-Shikha Gautam lost 19-21, 6-21 to two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara of Japan.

On the other hand, Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto went down 19-21, 20-22 against Goh S.H and Lai S.J in their mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals.

Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal in women's singles and H.S Prannoy along with world bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth in men's singles had earlier crashed out from the Thailand Open in the first round. The Thailand Open badminton tournament will conclude on Sunday.

--IANS

avn/bsk

( 370 Words)

2022-05-19-19:42:02 (IANS)