India’s top two shuttlers, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth made smooth progress into the quarter-finals of the $120,000 Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow on Thursday. But curtains came down on the campaign of the men’s singles sixth seed HS Prannoy, who tumbled out after being beaten by 15th seeded Harsheel Dani, 18-21, 18-21 in 35 minutes.
The 20-year-old Dani, a runner-up at the Turkey International in 2015, thus defended his quarter-final points from last year and now takes on the 12th seed Emil Holst for a place in the last-four.
Comfortable wins for Sindhu and Srikanth
There was no such stutter for the women’s singles top seed PV Sindhu, who breezed through her second round with a 21-7, 21-12 win over the 388th ranked Lalita Dahiya. It took the Rio Olympic silver medallist just 20 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals where she meets Indian qualifier Vaidehi Choudhari.
Defending men’s singles champion Kidambi Srikanth too put up a fine display to dispatch Ansal Yadav, 21-15, 21-16 in 38 minutes. He squares off against the seventh seed Zulfadli Zulkiffli in the last-eight.
Sai Praneeth upsets fifth seed
Ninth seed B Sai Praneeth caused a big upset as he sent the fifth seed Anders Antonsen packing with a 21-17, 21-19 victory.
The Verma brothers – Sourabh and Sameer – too made it to the quarter-finals with straight-game wins. While the 11th seeded Sourabh beat Lakshya Sen, 21-14, 21-16, the eighth-seeded Sameer overcame the 10th seeded Wei Feng Chong, 21-15, 21-16.
Elder brother Sourabh now takes on the ninth-seeded Sai Praneeth in an exciting all-Indian clash. Sameer, meanwhile, has to tackle the second seed Hans-Kristian Vittinghus for a semi-final berth.
Rituparna Das topples eighth seed
India’s rising women’s singles star Rituparna Das too made it to the last-eight. The World No. 66 upset the eighth seed Ksenia Polikarpova, 21-12, 21-19 to set up a meeting with the fourth seed Fitriani Fitriani.
Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy alive in two categories
There was a disappointment in men’s doubles as the Indian challenge ended in that category. The third seeds Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy bowed out of the event after being inflicted a 15-21, 17-21, 17-21 defeat by the Malaysian duo of Mohamed Arif Abdul Latif and Khim Wah Lim.
Among the other Indian teams, Francis Alwin and Tarun Kona lost 11-21, 15-21 to the fifth seeds Hendra Setiawan and Tan Boon Heong while K Nandagopal and Sanyam Shukla succumbed to a 10-21, 21-18, 18-21 defeat to the sixth seeds Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Hendra Wijaya.
Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, meanwhile, made progress in both women’s doubles and mixed doubles. In women’s doubles, the two combined to beat Dimpal Hazarika and Sanghamitra Saikia, 21-17, 21-10. They have tough opposition next as they face the second seeds Mei Kuan Chow and Lee Meng Yean.
In mixed doubles, second seeds and India No. 1 pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki Reddy cruised into the quarters with a 21-16, 21-15 win over qualifiers Ketan Chahal and Mohita Sahdev. They have the eighth seeds Yogendran Krishnan and Prajakta Sawant up next.
Seventh seeds Ponnappa and B Sumeeth Reddy emerged a 21-15, 21-18 winner over Rohan Kapoor and Sanjana Santosh to set up a showdown with the third seeds Yong Kai Terry Hee and Wei Han Tan.
