Asian Games 2023: PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, Satwik-Chirag Into Quarterfinals, One Win Away From Confirming Medals

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Hangzhou, October 4: India's top shuttlers PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy eased into the quarterfinals of their respective events following straight games victories in the ongoing Asian Games 2023 badminton competition on Wednesday (October 4).

Seventh seed Sindhu defeated Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani by a scoreline of 21-16, 21-16 in the women's singles round of 16 match that lasted for 55 minutes on Court 2 at the Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China.

The 28-year-old Sindhu, who had a disappointing outing in the women's team event, needs one more win to confirm a medal in the individual event, but standing in her way will be China's fourth seed He Bing Jiao in the quarterfinal.

In another singles match, Prannoy needed just 30 minutes on Court 4 to breeze past Kazakhstan's Dimitry Panarin by a scoreline of 21-12, 21-13 in the men's singles round of 16 clash.

The fifth seeded Prannoy, who was a huge miss for Indian men's team in the gold medal match, is now one win away from confirming an individual medal in the Asian Games. The 31-year-old will next face Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia in the last 8 clash.

The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also booked their quarterfinal berth after a hard-fought win over Indonesia's Leo Rolly Carnando and Daniel Marthin.

The second seeded Indian pair defeated the Indonesian duo 24-22, 16-21, 21-12 in the men's doubles round of 16 match that lasted for an hour and 24 minutes on court 2. The Indian duo will next face Singapore's Nge Joo Jie and Johann Prajogo in the quarterfinal on Thursday (October 5).

While Sindhu, Prannoy and Satwik-Chirag kept India's medal hopes alive in individual event, Kidambi Srikanth, the mixed doubles pair of Sai Pratheek and Tanisha Crasto, the women's doubles pairs of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, Crasto and Ashwini Ponnappa crashed out of the competition.

Crasto-Pratheek duo suffered straight games loss to Malaysian pair Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei by a scoreline of 21-18, 21-18 in the mixed doubles round of 16 match that was played on Court 4, ending India's run in mixed doubles.

Jolly-Gopichand duo went down fighting 15-21, 21-18, 13-21 to third seed South Korean pair of Kim So-yeong and Kong Hee-yong in the women's doubles round of 16 match that lasted for an hour and 19 minutes on court 2.

In the second women's doubles match of Indian interest, Crasto and Ponnappa went down in straight games to Chinese pair Zhang Shu Xian and Zheng Yu by a scoreline of 13-21, 21-23 in the round of 16 match.

Later on Wednesday (October 4), the other singles player in the competition, Srikanth bowed out after straight games defeat to Japan's second seeded Kodai Naraoka. The Indian lost by a scoreline of 16-21, 17-21.