Hope revives for Indian badminton, Sindhu, Srikanth reach quarters

Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth reach quarterfinals at Indonesia Masters

JAKARTA, JAN 24: Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth looked in fine fettle, easing into Indonesia Masters' quarterfinal with straight-games triumphs over their respective opponents on Thursday.

Sindhu, seeded second, defeated local favourite Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 23-21, 21-7 in 37 minutes to make the last-eight stage of her season-opener, while eighth seed Srikanth recorded a clinical 21-14 21-9 win over Japan's Asian Games bronze medallist Kenta Nishimoto.

The 23-year-old from Hyderabad, who had won silver medals at the Commonwealth Games, World Championship and Asian Games before clinching the World Tour Final title last year, is expected to take on Spain's Carolina Marin next.

Srikanth, who had reached the quarterfinals at Malaysia Masters last week, will face either Indonesia's Asian Games champion Jonatan Christie or China's reigning All England champion Shi Yuqi.

Sindhu, who had to pull out all stops against former Olympic champion Li Xuerui in the opening match, faced stiff competition in the extended opening game against Tunjung.

However, she completely dominated the second game to wrap up the match in 37 minutes and extend her unbeaten record against Tunjung to 5-0.

Srikanth, who had lost to the Japanese in their last meeting but held a 3-1 overall edge, quickly erased a 2-5 deficit early on and never looked back after grabbing a 11-8 lead at the break in the opening game.

The Indian dominated the second game with an initial 6-0 lead which swelled to 18-8 after the break and he eventually wrap up lop-sided contest in half an hour. 

PTI

Image Courtesy: Twitter