Rising Indian shuttler PV Sindhu added another feather to her cap after defeating former World No 1 Shixian Wang of China at the Badminton Asia Championships here yesterday.
In the process, the 17-year-old progressed to the women’s singles quarter-finals of the continental event.u00a0It took Sindhu a marathon effort to beat the third seeded Chinese 15-21, 21-14, 22-20 in their first ever encounter which lasted one hour and two minutes at the Taipei Arena.u00a0The Hyderabadi will next face Japanese seventh seed Eriko Hirose, who has beaten Sindhu in their only meeting so far.
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Kashyap falters
However, it was the end of the road for all other Indian shuttlers in the Chinese Taipei capital. Fourth seed Parupalli Kashyap went out in the men’s singles third round to Chinese 15th seed Huan Gao 19-21, 15-21 in 50 minutes. Earlier in the day, World No 7 Kashyap beat local lad Han Chou Chu 21-17, 21-19 in their first-ever clash.
B Sai Praneeth’s journey at the tournament also ended after he lost his second-round match against Chinese sixth seed Zhengming Wang 15-21, 16-21 in 36 minutes.u00a0India’s doubles campaign also ended as Pradnya Gadre and Ashwini Ponnappa lost their match against the pairing of Lok Yan Poon and Ying Suet Tse 15-21, 11-21.
Sindhu retains rank
World No 2 Saina Nehwal retained her place in the latest rankings. u00a0Sindhu also kept her 16th place.u00a0Meanwhile, Kashyap (7), Mumbai’s Ajay Jayaram (30) and Sourabh Verma (38) also retained their positions in the men’s singles rankings.