PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy continue to fly the Indian flag high in singles at the 2016 Bonny China Masters as both of them entered the pre-quarter-finals of this Grand Prix Gold event held in Jiangsu, China on Wednesday. While the fourth-seeded Sindhu demolished Natsuki Nidaira of Japan, 21-16, 21-12, the seventh-seeded Prannoy comfortably beat the New Zealand Open winner Huang Yuxiang, 21-16, 21-12.
Both needed 34 minutes to complete their respective wins.
The 20-year-old Sindhu has been desperately looking to find her winning touch after some early exits since January’s Malaysia Masters triumph. She will next face World No. 159 Chien Hui Yu of Chinese Taipei for a place in the last-eight.
Prannoy, who won the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold in March, next takes on the unseeded Malaysian Daren Liew, who is ranked 192nd.
Mixed day for India in doubles
India had a mixed day in doubles as the men’s doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra/Akshay Dewalkar and the country’s No. 1 women’s doubles duo of Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa moved into the second round. But the 20th ranked pair of Manu Attri/B Sumeeth Reddy, who reached the Peru International final last Sunday, was not so lucky as they crashed out in the first round.
The eighth seeds were possibly very tired and went down 19-21, 16-21 to the unseeded duo of Ruud Bosch and Oliver Leydon-Davis.
Chopra and Dewalkar, on the other hand, put up a commanding display to beat Singaporeans Yong Kai Terry Hee and Kean Hean Loh, 21-18, 21-13.They have a tough task ahead as they meet the seventh seeds Wang Yilyu and Zhang Wen in Round 2.
In women’s doubles, Jwala and Ashwini too had an easy outing as they thrashed Malaysians Mei Kuan Chow and Meng Yean Lee, 21-16, 21-18. Their next opponents are the unseeded Chinese Taipei team of Hsieh Pei Chen and Wu Ti Jung.
