It was a mixed day for Indian shuttlers at the Badminton Asia Championships in Wuhan, China as PV Sindhu advanced to the quarter-finals on Thursday. However, she was the only Indian left in the fray after Ajay Jayaram, the country’s highest ranked male player, lost in an earlier match.
Sindhu beat Japan’s Aya Ohori for a straight 21-14, 21-15 win, while Ajay Jayaram went down to Hsu Jen Hao 19-21, 10-21 in the second round.
The Rio Olympics silver medallist was in full flow as she dominated the encounter against the Japanese. She won the first game comfortably at 21-14 and then took the second 21-15 to breeze into the next round. She had notched a similar fluent win over Dinar Dyah Ayustine of Indonesia in the opening round. Sindhu has previously won the bronze medal in the 2014 edition.
The Indian World No 3 will face He Bingjiao of China in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile Jayaram, who had stunned Chinese fifth seed and local favourite Tian Houwei in the first round, could not continue in the same vein against Hsu Jen-hao. After fighting it out in the first game, which he narrowly lost 19-21, he couldn’t sustain the same level, surrendering 10-21 in the second to bow out of the Asian event.
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