Arctic Open 2023: PV Sindhu Reaches Quarterfinal; Kidambi Srikanth Crashes Out

Vantaa (Finland), October 13: PV Sindhu advanced to the quarterfinals, keeping India's challenge alive in the Arctic Open 2023 as rest of the country's shuttlers crashed out of the badminton tournament on Thursday (October 12) at the Energia Areena in Vantaa, Finland.

Two-time Olympic medallist Sindhu took just 38 minutes to ease past Chinese Taipei's Wen Chi Hsu by a scoreline of 21-11 21-10 on court 1. The eighth seed Sindhu will next play Thuy Linh Nguyen of Vietnam in the last 8 on Friday (October 13).

However, the tournament ended for Kidambi Srikanth and Kiran George in men's singles, Akarshi Kashyap in women's singles, and Ashwini Ponnappa & Tanisha Crasto in women's doubles.

While Srikanth lost 15-21 12-21 against seventh seed Kanta Tsuneyama of Japan, George was shown the door by fourth seed Lu Guang Zu of China 10-21 20-22.

Aakarshi Kashyap, who was the other competitor in the women's singles event, bowed out in following straight games 8-21, 12-21 to fifth seeded Chinese shuttler Wang Zhi Yi later in the day.

Meanwhile, the lone Indian pair in women's doubles, Crasto and Ponnappa also failed to progress to the quarterfinals, losing 19-21 19-21 against the French duo of Margot Lambert and Anne Tran.

Earlier on Wednesday (October 11), Mithun Manjunath made an early exit following straight games loss to China's Weng Hong Yang by a scoreline of 19-21, 14-21, while two other doubles pairs also crashed out in the opening round.

Women's doubles pair of Rutaparna Panda and Swetaparana Panda suffered a 9-21, 10-21 loss to China's seventh seeded pair Liu Sheng Shu and Tan Ning.

Also, Crasto and Sai Pratheek, who had reached the main draw in the mixed doubles on Tuesday (October 10), also exited the tournament after a closely contested opening round match against Japan's Hiroki Midorikawa and Natsu Saito by a scoreline of 14-21, 18-21.

Malvika Bansod had also crashed out on the opening day following straight games loss to Thailand's Supanida Katethong by a scoreline of 10-21, 5-21.