KUALA LUMPUR: Indian shuttler and two-time Olympic medalist P V Sindhu moved to the semifinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters competition on Friday.
Sindhu fought against China’s world number 6 shuttler Han Yue in the quarterfinal round. She defeated her Chinese opponent by 13-21, 21-14 and 12-21 in a match that lasted for 55 minutes.
Sindhu’s next clash will be against either Putri Kusuma Wardani or Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the semis. In the previous round, Sindhu beat South Korea’s Sim Yu Jin. She won by 21-13, 12-21 and 21-14. The match lasted for 59 minutes.
In the other match, the 24-year-old Ashmita Chaliha ranked world number 53, suffered a defeat against Zhang Yi Man by 21-10, and 21-15 of China in a match that lasted for 30 minutes. While Chaliha made her place in the quarterfinal after beating USA’s Beiwen Zhang by 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 in a 43-minute match.
Earlier in the tournament, the Indian women’s doubles duo of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker lost their second-round match by 21-17, 21-11 in lasted 37 minutes, against the Malaysian pair of Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.
In the other pre-quarterfinals clash, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand crashed out of the competition as well, losing to the Chinese Taipei pair of Yu Chien Hui and Sung Shuo Yun by 18-21, 22-20, 14-21.
The Malaysia Masters is being held from May 21 to 26 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is a Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 500 level tournament. PV Sindhu has captured the women’s singles title in the competition twice in 2013 and 2016, while Saina Nehwal secured the title in 2017.
H S Prannoy also won the title as he beat Weng Hongyang of China by 21-19, 13-21, 21-18 in the final last year. (ANI)