Hangzhou:Star Indian shuttlers HS Prannoy and PV Sindhu progressed into the men's and women's singles pre-quarterfinals with straight-game victories over their respective opponents in the badminton competition at the Asian Games here on Tuesday.
Prannoy who is ranked World no. 7 had missed the men's team championships final against China due to a back injury earlier in the year. He announced his returned to court court in style beating Mongolia's Batdavaa Munkhbat 21-9, 21-12 in a span of just 25 minutes. The victory will mean that he will face the winner of the contest between Jordan's Bahaedeen Ahmad Alshannik or Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Panarin.
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Sindhu ensured a win without breaking a sweat as she ousted her opponent We Chi Hsu of Chinese Taipei by a scoreline of 21-10, 21-15. It was the second meeting between these two badminton stars as the repeat of the same fixture was played at the Asia Badminton Championships in Dubai earlier this month. Subsequently, she will square off against the winner of the contest of the match between Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani and Hong Kong's Liang Ka Wing.
Sindhu was spotless in her game keeping the unforced errors to minimal and engaged her opponent in longer rallies using her tosses and clears. From being on 7-5 lead in the initial stages of the first set, but the 28-year soon raced ahead to take a lead of 15-6. The Indian shuttler eventually wrapped up the set by 21-10 and continued her momentum in the second set as well.
The second set was a close affair as Hsu tried to claw back in the game. The scoreline was 9-all at one point but the Indian extended the lead to 18-14. Then, she sealed the contest comfortably booking a berth in the pre-quarterfinal.
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