Kuala Lumpur: India’s two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and compatriot HS Prannoy cruised to the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters badminton tournament with straight-game wins here Thursday. PV Sindhu, who is seeded seventh in the event, made short work of World No. 32 China’s Zhang Yi Man 21-12, 21-10 in just 28 minutes in the women’s singles second round clash.
However, a tough contest awaits the former World Champion, Sindhi currently ranked seventh in the world. Sindhu will again have to cross swords with her nemesis Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the last eight. Sindhu has a dismal 5-16 head-to-head record against the World No. 2. Ying had also beaten the Indian in the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Open last week.
In men’s singles contest, Prannoy eked out a 21-19 21-16 Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei to book a quarterfinal against Japan’s Kanta Tsuneyama.
However, B Sai Praneeth and former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap bowed out of the competition. Paneeth lost to Li She Feng of China 14-21, 17-21 in 42 minutes. Kashyap on the other hand was sent packing 10-21, 15-21 by sixth seed Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.
