Malaysia Masters: PV Sindhu, Ashmita Chaliha in Quarterfinals

Indian shuttler and two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu moved to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters competition on Thursday.

Sindhu put up a fight against South Korea’s world number 34 shuttler Sim Yu Jin in her second-round match. She beat her 21-13, 12-21 and 21-14 in a match that lasted for 59 minutes.

Her next clash will be against the world number six Han Yue in quarters on Friday.
In another match, the 24-year-old Ashmita Chaliha ranked world number 53, pulled a shocker by defeating the 10th-ranked Beiwen Zhang by 21-19, 16-21, 21-12 of USA in a match that lasted 43 minutes.

The Indian women’s doubles duo of Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker lost their second-round match by 21-17, 21-11 which lasted 37 minutes, against the Malaysian pair of Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.

The Chinese Taipei pair of Yu Chien Hui and Sung Shuo Yun defeated the Indian women’s doubles pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand 18-21, 22-20, 14-21 to send both teams crashing out of the competition in the other pre-quarterfinal match.

Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur is hosting the Malaysia Masters from May 21 to May 26. It’s a Super 500 level Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour competition. Women’s singles champion PV Sindhu won the title twice in the competition, in 2013 and 2016, while Saina Nehwal won it in 2017.

In the previous year’s final, HS Prannoy defeated Weng Hongyang of China by scores of 21-19, 13-21, and 21-18 to win the title as well.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty last week won Thailand Open. They defeated China’s Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi in straight sets to bag another title in their trophy cabinet. Now, they have two Thailand Open titles, having won their first back in 2019. In the latest updated BWF rankings issued on Tuesday, ‘Sat-Chi’ has climbed up two spots to regain the top rank, with 99,670 points.

This was their second title of the year after they won the French Open in March.