PV Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medalist and former world champion, has advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the Madrid Spain Masters badminton tournament. In her first-round match on Wednesday, Sindhu defeated Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang 21-16, 21-12, in 30 minutes. The second-seeded Sindhu, currently ranked 11th in the world, will face world No. 63 Huang Yu-Husn of Chinese Taipei in the round of 16.
However, India’s other challenger in the women’s singles, Ashmita Chaliha, crashed out in the first round, losing to Ratchanok Intanon 21-13, 21-11 in 28 minutes. India also had a disappointing start in the men’s singles event, with Sathish Kumar Karunakaran losing his closely fought first-round match to Jason Teh of Indonesia, the 56th-ranked shuttler.
Karunakaran also teamed up with Aadya Variath in mixed doubles competition, but they lost to Indonesia’s Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Menthari 21-18, 21-14. Following Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen’s withdrawal, Kidambi Srikanth, who was the spearhead of India’s men’s singles challenge in this tournament, registered a 21-18, 21-15 loss to Japan’s Koo Takahashi in the first round.
Mithun Manjunath also lost his first-round game against Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei 21-11, 21-12. However, the mixed doubles duo of BS Reddy-N Sikki Reddy marched into pre-quarters following a 16-21, 22-20, 21-14 win over Chinese Taipei’s Chen Zhi Ray and Yang Ching Tun.
The Madrid Spain Masters 2024 offers players ranking points for the Paris 2024 Olympics, taking place from July-August this year. The ranking period for badminton began on May 1, 2023, and will end next month.
