Sindhu, Guru in Asian C’ship quarterfinals

Teen sensation P V Sindhu and rising shuttler RMV Gurusaidutt reached the quarterfinals of Asian badminton championship with hard-fought three-game wins in the women’s and men’s singles competition of the $200,000 event on Thursday. 

World number 10 Sindhu, who had lost thrice to  Eriko Hirose of Japan in the past, including in last year’s edition of Asian badminton, avenged her losses with a 14-21, 21-13, 21-18 win in an hour and 13 minutes.

The 18-year-old will next take on Thailand’s Busanan Ongbumrungpan, ranked 18th in the world, who notched up an upset 22-24, 21-19, 21-15 win over third seeded Korean Bae Yeon Ju in another match. Sindhu, who won the Malaysian Open and Macau Open besides the World Championship bronze last year, holds a 2-0 win record against Busanan.  

In the men’s singles, Gurusaidutt, ranked 38 in the world, bounced back after the opening game loss to edge out Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu Wei 17-21, 21-13, 21-19. The Indian will take on Chinese qualifier Liu Kai on Friday. India ace Parupalli Kashyap, however, went down fighting against Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei 25-23, 21-17 in another hour-long match.

In women’s doubles, CWG gold medallist pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta prevailed over third seeded Thailand combo of Aroonkesorn Duanganong and Voravichitchaikul Kunchala 21-11, 21-18. 

The duo will next take on Malaysia’s Anscelly Amelia Alicia and Soong Fie Cho. Guru showed a lot of grit and determination as he rallied to tire out his opponent. 

‘The shuttles were slow so I had to really play with lots of patience. But with the guidance of my coach I managed to catch the shuttle up at the nets as I was going low till then. There were lots of rallies in the second and I could see him getting tired and I made sure I go up to the net and not to repeat any strokes where he played from. That really helped me,’ Guru said after his match.