Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Indian shuttler and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu advanced to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters on Thursday. Sindhu put up a resilient performance against South Korea’s world number 34, Sim Yu Jin, winning the second-round match 21-13, 12-21, 21-14 in a tightly contested 59-minute battle. Sindhu’s next challenge will be against world number six Han Yue in the quarterfinals on Friday.
In a stunning upset, 24-year-old Ashmita Chaliha, ranked world number 53, defeated the 10th-ranked Beiwen Zhang of the USA. Chaliha triumphed 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 in a match lasting 43 minutes.
However, the Indian women’s doubles duo of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker were eliminated in the second round, losing 21-17, 21-11 to the Malaysian pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in a 37-minute match. Additionally, the Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also exited the competition after a hard-fought loss to the Chinese Taipei pair Yu Chien Hui and Sung Shuo Yun, with scores of 18-21, 22-20, 14-21.
The Malaysia Masters, a Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 500 level tournament, is being held from May 21 to 26 in Kuala Lumpur. PV Sindhu has previously won the women’s singles title at the Malaysia Masters twice, in 2013 and 2016, while Saina Nehwal secured the title in 2017.
In other news, HS Prannoy won the Malaysia Masters title last year by defeating China’s Weng Hongyang 21-19, 13-21, 21-18 in the final. Additionally, the men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty recently clinched the Thailand Open, defeating China’s Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi in straight sets. This victory marks their second Thailand Open title, having first won it in 2019. In the latest BWF rankings issued on Tuesday, Rankireddy and Shetty climbed two spots to regain the top rank with 99,670 points. This was their second title of the year, following their French Open victory in March.
