Sindhu, Srikanth enter World Championship quarters

TIL Desk Sports/ Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth stood just one step away from grabbing a medal each at the World Badminton Championship after entering the quarterfinals of the singles events here today.

Sindhu, who twice won a bronze medal at the 2013 and 2014 editions, survived a scare against Hong Kong’s Cheung Ngan Yi before prevailing 19-21 23-21 21-17 in a thrilling women’s singles match that lasted an hour and 27 minutes.

The 22-year-old Indian fought back from 13-16 down in the second game after losing the first to eventually come up trumps. She will face fifth seed Sun Yu of China next. Srikanth, however, eased into the quarterfinals with yet another straight-game win over Denmark’s Anders Antonsen in men’s singles.

On a 12-match winning streak, Srikanth knocked out World No. 18 Antonsen 21-14 21-18. The World No. 10 Indian will clash with top seed and World No. 1 Korean Son Wan Ho in the quarterfinals. “It was a good game today. There were some intense rallies and I am happy for the win,” Srikanth told.