Sydney: Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu entered the quarterfinals of the $750,000 Star Australian Super Series on Thursday after posting comfortable victories in their respective women’s singles second round matches here. However, India’s campaign was over in both the men’s singles and men’s doubles events.
World No. 8 Saina had an easy outing against compatriot P C Thulasi, who she beat 21-18 21-15, while eighth seeded Sindhu overcame Thailand’s Nichaon Jindapon 21-13 21-7. Meanwhile, B Sai Praneeth fought hard before going down 15-21 21-8 19-21 to sixth seed Chinese Zhengming Wang.
In the men’s doubles, it was curtains for the two remaining Indian pairs.While Alwin Francis and Arun Vishnu lost 18-21 9-21 to third seeded Lee Sheng Mua and Tsai Chia Hsin, Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar went down 13-21 19-21 to Sung Hyun Ko and Baek Choel Shin.
Saina moves up in world rankingsThe quarterfinal finish at the Indonesia Open Super Series in Jakarta recently helped Saina Nehwal reach eighth position in the latest world badminton ranking, released on Thursday. P V Sindhu remained static at 10th. Top Indian men’s shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, however, dropped two positions to be at 20th place.
Sourabh Varma climbed to 37th while R M V Gurusaidutt and Anand Pawar lost a position each to be at 35th and 42nd, respectively. K Srikanth retained his 29th position.
