Malaysia Masters: PV Sindhu, Ashmita Chaliha in quarterfinals

Indian shuttler and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu moved to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters competition on Thursday.

Sindhu put up a fight against South Korea’s world number 34 shuttler Sim Yu Jin in her second-round match. She beat her 21-13, 12-21 and 21-14 in a match that lasted for 59 minutes.

Her next clash will be against the world number six Han Yue in quarters on Friday.

In the other match, the 24-year-old Ashmita Chaliha ranked world number 53, pulled a shocker by defeating the 10th-ranked Beiwen Zhang by 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 of USA in a match that lasted 43 minutes.

The Indian women’s doubles duo of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker lost their second-round match by 21-17, 21-11 in lasted 37 minutes, against the Malaysian pair of Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.

In the other pre-quarterfinals clash, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand crashed out of the competition as well, losing to the Chinese Taipei pair of Yu Chien Hui and Sung Shuo Yun by 18-21, 22-20, 14-21.

The Malaysia Masters is being held from May 21 to 26 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is a Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 500 level tournament. PV Sindhu has captured the women’s singles title in the competition twice in 2013 and 2016, while Saina Nehwal secured the title in 2017.

HS Prannoy also won the title as he beat Weng Hongyang of China by 21-19, 13-21, 21-18 in the final last year.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty last week won Thailand Open.

They defeated China’s Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi in straight sets to bag another title in their trophy cabinet. Now, they have two Thailand Open titles, having won their first back in 2019. In the latest updated BWF rankings issued on Tuesday, ‘Sat-Chi’ has climbed up two spots to regain the top rank, with 99,670 points.

This was their second title of the year after they won the French Open in March. (ANI)