PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth enter pre-quarters

Lucknow: Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu hardly broke sweat but defending champion Kidambi Srikanth had to toil hard to advance to the pre-quarter-finals of the $120,000 Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament here on Wednesday.

Sindhu tested the conditions at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium en route to her easy 21-9, 21-11 win over compatriot Anura Prabhudesai in a lop-sided contest, while third seed Srikanth staved off a spirited challenge from fellow Indian Lakhanee Sarang 15-21, 21-7, 21-14 in his opening men’s singles match before notching up a 21-5, 21-12 win over Malaysia’s Zulhelmi Zulkiffli.

Sindhu, 21, faces Lalita Dahiya, while third seed Srikanth, who is coming back after recovering from an ankle injury, meets compatriot Ansal Yadav, who beat 16th seed Pratul Joshi 18-21, 21-16 21-16 in another match. Among other Indians in men’s singles, H.S. Prannoy, the Verma brothers, Sourabh and Sameer, B. Sai Praneeth and Harsheel Dhani also reached the third round.

Swiss Open winner, Prannoy, seeded sixth and in rampaging form at the Premier Badminton League, brushed aside N.V.S. Vijetha 21-11, 21-9 and Bodhit Joshi 21-16 21-8 in the first two rounds to set up a clash with 15th seed Dhani, who defeated Aryamann Tandon 21-12, 21-17 in another second round match. Praneeth, seeded ninth, beat Aditya Joshi 21-14, 21-9 in the first round and then defeated Ashish Sharma 21-15, 21-10 to make it to the pre-quarters, while Chinese Taipei champion Sourabh, the 11th seed, dispatched Rahul Yadav Chittaboina 21-11, 21-17 before beating Shubham Prajapati 21-6, 21-10.

Hong Kong Open finalist Sameer Verma, seeded eighth, emerged winner in the opening game after Kartik Jindal retired when he was trailing 1-5 and the Indian then beat K. Ajay Kumar 21-13, 21-14 to make it to the next round. World no. 15 and second seed Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark, his fifth seeded compatriot Anders Antonsen, Malaysia’s Zulfadli Zulkiffli, seeded 7th, Israel’s 13th seed Misha Zilberman and 12th seed Emil Holst also reached the pre-quarters.