DUBAI: On a day star shutter Lakshya Sen made a first-round exit, double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and veteran Kidambi Srikanth began with easy wins to advance into the pre-quarterfinals of the Asia Badminton Championship, in Dubai on Wednesday.
Commonwealth Games bronze medal-winning women's doubles pair Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also kept the Indian flag high by making the last-16.
Fresh from finishing runner-up at the Madrid Spain Masters, the former world champion, Sindhu defeated wen Chi Hsu 21-15, 22-20 in a 46-minute affair in the women's singles.
Trailing 11-14 in the first game, the world No 11 Indian, who is on a comeback trail after a long injury lay-off, reeled off nine points in a row to take a lead.
In the second game, the Taipei shuttler gave some fight but Sindhu led 11-7 at the break before sealing the issue. Sindhu will face World No 9 Han Yue of China in the pre-quarters.
Former World Championship silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth took 25 minutes to see off his first-round opponent Adnan Ebrahim 21-13 21-8. He will face world No 5 Kodai Naraoka in the men's singles last-16.
Treesa and Gayatri duo roared back from behind to defeat Indonesia's Lanny Tria Mayasari and Ribka Sugiarto 17-21, 21-17, 21-18 in a battle lasting more than an hour.
Mixed pair duo of Rohan Kapoor and Sikki Reddy also won their opening round match when they defeated Chan Peng Soon and Cheah Yee See of Malaysia 21-12, 21-16.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sen, who took a short break to focus on his mental and physical health, was eliminated by world number 7 Loh Kean Yew in a 7-21, 21-23 loss.
Having plummeted to 24th spot in the BWF rankings, Sen got a tough draw as he was pitted against former world champion and world No 7.
Up against world number one Akane Yamaguchi, promising Malavika Bansod stretched the star player before going down 23-25, 19-21 in a 46-minute battle. Agencies
Also watch: