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The trio of Indians left competing in the ongoing 39th edition of Badminton Asia Championships could not have asked for a better day on the courts. The pre-quarter-final matches turned out to be a cakewalk for Sameer Verma, PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal who did not face any trouble at all in overthrowing their opponents and gaining an entry ticket to the quarter-final stages of the prestigious tournament.
The fifteenth-ranked Sameer Verma defeated Hong Kong's NG Ka Long Angus in straight games. In a matter of 43 minutes, Verma saw off Angus in 21-12, 21-19. However, Verma has a difficult opponent in the next round as he is scheduled to go up against the second seeded Chinese Yuqi Shi. Verma will have to put his best foot forward in the exciting quarter-final clash to manage to hold up a good resistance against Yuqi Shi's ruthless and dominating style of badminton.
On the other hand, PV Sindhu has been handed an easy opponent in the quarters. She did not break a sweat today either and showed Indonesia's Choirunnisa the door after a brief 33 minutes encounter which concluded with a 21-15, 21-19 scorecard. The fourth seeded Sindhu will be playing China's seventeenth ranked Yanyan Cai and should not have much trouble overcoming that challenge.
Another tough draw that awaits unravelling tomorrow features 2018 Asian Championships bronze medallist, Saina Nehwal. The former World No. 1 was in top form today and dominated her Korean opponent Kim Ga Eun from the beginning to the end. After 38 minutes, Eun accepted a humble defeat in 21-13, 21-13.
However, Nehwal's next opponent holds a 7-2 head-to-head advantage over her and Saina would have to be at her very best to outshine the World Number 2 Akane Yamaguchi of Japan. This should be a very interesting clash and a lot of hopes are pinned on Saina as she will take on the Japanese in her quarter-final clash in Wuhan tomorrow.
Here's all you need to know about the Badminton Asia Championships:
Tournament Name- 39th Badminton Asia Championships 2019
Category- BWF Continental Individual Championships
Location- Wuhan, China
Prize Money- $400,000
Match: Quarter Final Stage
Sameer Verma v Yuqi Shi [2] at approx 3 p.m IST on 26th April, 2019
Saina Nehwal [7] v Akane Yamaguchi [3] at approx 3 p.m IST on 26th April, 2016
PV Sindhu [4] v Yanyan Cai at approx 3:45 p.m IST on 26th April, 2019
Channel: There is no broadcast available in India.
Live score: The match can be live tracked on the BWF official website.
