Sindhu advances to quarterfinals in Madrid Spain Masters

Indian badminton player PV Sindhu has secured her first quarterfinal spot of 2023 at the Madrid Spain Masters tournament. The two-time Olympic medallist defeated Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia with a score of 21-16 21-14 in just over half an hour.

The former world champion has been struggling to find her form since her return from a long injury layoff, and this victory marks a significant milestone for the 27-year-old. Sindhu, who is now ranked world number two, will face Denmark’s Mia Blichfeldt in the last eight stages of the Super 300 tournament.

Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth, the world number 21 and seeded fifth, advanced to the quarterfinals with a straight-game victory over B Sai Praneeth. However, he will face a challenging match against top seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan. In the men’s singles event, Kiran George and Priyanshu Rajawat were eliminated in the second round, while Aakarshi Kashyap lost in the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals to Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira.

Malvika Bansod withdrew from the tournament, while Ashmita Chaliha was beaten by Yeo Jia Min in her second-round match. Sameer Verma lost his men’s singles Round of 16 matches against Japanese second seed Kanta Tsuneyama. In doubles events, MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila lost to Japan’s Shuntaro Mezaki and Haruya Nishida, while Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil were defeated by Rui Hirokami and Yuna Kato of Japan.

Staff Reporter