Syed Modi badminton: PV Sindhu sails into round of 16
PV Sindhu defeated 18-year-old shuttler Tanya Hemanth and will face USA’s Lauren Lam on Thursday.
Former world champion PV Sindhu eased into the second round of the Syed Modi International 2022 in the women’s singles at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow on Wednesday.
The two-time Olympic medallist defeated 18-year-old shuttler Tanya Hemanth 21-9, 21-9 in 27 minutes.
The match started evenly with both players tied 5-5 at the opening stages. However, PV Sindhu snatched the momentum with nine consecutive points and then pocketed the game in 14 minutes.
The Indian badminton ace continued to dominate Hemanth and sealed the contest in straight games. PV Sindhu will next face USA’s Lauren Lam in the round of 16.
Thailand’s Supanida Katethong, who defeated PV Sindhu in the India Open semis, beat India’s Sri Krishna Priya Kudaravalli 21-13, 21-13 in 31 minutes later in the day. Both Sindhu and Katethong are pitted in the same half of the draw and are expected to clash in the quarter-finals.
Fifth seed Evgeniya Kosetskaya from the Badminton Federation of Russia, meanwhile, got the better of Vaidehi Choudhari 21-16, 21-10 in 28 minutes.
In the women’s doubles, seventh seeds Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, the daughter of chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, breezed past fellow Indian pair Mahek Nayak and Saumya Singh 21-1, 21-4 in just 17 minutes.
On Tuesday, HS Prannoy, Aakarshi Kashyap and the pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila were some of the top Indian players to have progressed to the second round. The finals will be played on January 23.