KUALA LUMPUR: World championship silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth got the better of World Number 5 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in straight games 21-19, 21-19 in Round of 16 match of Malaysia Masters 2023 to join Prannoy and Sindhu in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Srikanth will face Indonesia’s Christian Adinata in the last-eight clash on Friday. It was a hard-fought match for the Hyderabadi shuttler.
Earlier in the day, double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu comfortably got the better of Aya Ohori of Japan 21-16, 21-11 in 40 minutes in pre-quarters and will lock horns with China’s Zhang Yi Man to book a spot in the semifinals in the tournament being held in Kuala Lumpur.
Continuing his good run in the BWF World Tour Super 500 event, Prannoy defeated All England champion Li Shi Feng of China with a superb come-from-behind victory 13-21, 21-16, 21-11 in the Round of 16. He will face Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto in the last-8 round on Friday.
In men’s singles shuttler Lakshya Sen will also be in action later in the day.
Indian shuttlers will be competing in Hangzhou Asian Games from September 23 to October 8 in singles, doubles and team events. Sindhu bagged a bronze in the team event in 2014 while she won a silver in women’s singles in the 2018 edition.
Overall Sindhu has an impressive record in multi-sporting events as she bagged a gold in Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham and won a silver and bronze in Rio Olympics 2016 and Tokyo Olympics respectively.
Lakshya Sen too will be eager to perform after winning gold in Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham. He was also part of the team that won the Thomas Cup in the same year. (ANI)