Asian Games 2023: PV Sindhu Knocked Out In Quarterfinals, Prannoy & Satwik-Chirag Assure Medals In Hangzhou

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Hangzhou, October 5: Top Indian shuttler PV Sindhu was on Thursday (October 5) knocked out of the women's singles competition in Asian Games 2023 following a straight games defeat to China's He Bing Jiao in the quarterfinal at the Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China.

The two-time Olympic medallist from India, who had denied her Chinese opponent a medal in Tokyo 2020, went down to the fourth seed from China by a scoreline of 16-21, 12-21 in the last 8 match that lasted for 47 minutes on court 1.

This result ended India's hopes for a women's medal in badminton at the Asian Games 2023, and this also meant, Sindhu drew a blank in this continental event, having also missed out on a medal in the women's team event earlier in the tournament.

Earlier in the singles, competition, Sindhu had Wen Chi Hsu of Chinese Taipei and Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in straight games after her disappointing showing in the women's team quarterfinal.

The 28-year-old has struggled for form since making her return from injury earlier this year, having lost in the opening round in seven tournaments and reaching only one final, which she finished as runner up at the Madrid Masters 2023.

HS Prannoy, Satwik-Chirag Pair Guaranteed Medals

While Sindhu crashed out, the in-form HS Prannoy assured India of a men's singles medal with a hard-fought win over Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in the men's singles quarterfinal.

The fifth seed Prannoy saw off the unseeded Malaysian in three games 21-16, 21-23, 22-20 in an hour and 18 minutes on court 1. With this win Prannoy has guaranteed himself an Asian Games bronze medal, but he will look to upgrade that colour in the semifinals.

Prannoy, who already has a silver medal from the team event, will next face the winner of the quarterfinal between top seed Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia and sixth seed Li Shifeng of China on Friday (October 6).

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty pair, who were also part of the silver-winning men's team and favourites to win individual event medal in Hangzhou, eased past Singapore's Nge Joo Jie & Johann Prajogo in the men's doubles quarterfinals to assure themselves a medal.

India's top men's doubles duo Satwik-Chirag scripted history again as they become second Indian men's double pair, after Leroy D'sa & Pradeep Gandhne in 1982, to secure Asian Games medal after 41 years.

They got the better of Singaporean pair 21-7, 21-9 in the last 8 clash to book a semifinal meeting with Malaysia's Aaron Chia & Sooh Wooi Yik on Friday (October 6).

Earlier on Wednesday (October 4), Kidambi Srikanth bowed out in round of 16 along with women's doubles pairs Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Ashwini Ponnappa-Tanisha Crasto as well as mixed doubles pair of Crasto and Sai Pratheek K.

On Tuesday (October 3), Ashmita Chaliha also exited the games in the round of 32 stage of the women's singles competition, while Rohan Kapoor-Sikki Reddy and MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila were forced to withdraw due to injiries.