Madrid Spain Masters badminton 2023: PV Sindhu in quarter-finals, her first of the year
Indian badminton player Kidambi Srikanth also entered the last eight round in men’s singles. Malvika Bansod had to forfeit her match against Carolina Marin.
Badminton
Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu reached the quarter-finals at the Madrid Spain Masters 2023 with a 21-14, 21-16 win over Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani on Thursday.
In the final eight, world No. 11 PV Sindhu will face Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt, who she defeated in the Tokyo Olympics round of 16. The former world champion holds a healthy 5-1 head-to-head record against the Danish shuttler.
It will be PV Sindhu’s first quarter-final appearance of the year after exiting the Malaysia, India and All England Opens in the first round and this month's Swiss Open in round 2.
Meanwhile, Kidambi Srikanth, who slipped to 21st place in the latest badminton rankings, defeated compatriot B Sai Praneeth 21-15, 21-12 to enter the men’s singles quarter-finals.
Srikanth, seeded fifth in the tournament, will face top-seeded Japanese shuttler Kenta Nishimoto next.
Among the other Indians, Malvika Bansod, Kiran George, Priyanshu Rajawat, Sameer Verma, Aakarshi Kashyap and Ashmita Chaliha crashed out.
Malvika Bansod, unfortunately, had to forfeit her women’s singles match against Rio 2016 gold medallist Carolina Marin due to visa issues.
Kiran George suffered a 17-21, 12-21 loss at the hands of Denmark's Magnus Johannesen in a 31-minute duel while Priyanshu Rajawat lost to eighth-seed Toma Junior Popov of France 14-21, 15-21. Sameer Verma was beaten 15-21, 14-21 by second-seeded Japanese Kanta Tsuneyama in the men’s singles.
In the women's singles, Ashmitha Chaliha went down to Singapore's Yeo Jia Min 15-21, 15-21 while Aakarshi Kashyap’s campaign ended after a 21-13, 21-8 loss to Japan’s Natsuki Nidaira.