Malaysia Masters: Sindhu, Prannoy move into quarters; Praneeth, Kashyap bow out

KUALA LUMPUR: Top Indian shuttlers P.V Sindhu, and H.S Prannoy reached the quarterfinals while compatriot Parupalli Kashyap and B. Sai Praneeth made second-round exits at the Malaysia Masters 2022 at the Axiata Arena, here on Thursday.

Sindhu, seventh in the badminton world rankings, took just 26 minutes to beat China's Zhang Yi Man 21-12, 21-10 in her women's singles second-round match to set up a quarterfinal clash against world No. 2 Tai Tzu Ying of the Chinese Taipei.

Up against Yi Man, a former world championships bronze medallist and an opponent she had never beaten before, Sindhu took control of the game early after winning seven points on the trot to race to a 9-1 lead.

It was smooth sailing from there on for the Indian badminton ace, who never trailed throughout the duration of the match against world No. 32 Yi Man.

However, the quarterfinal clash against Tai Tzu Ying will be a much tougher affair for the two-time Olympic medal-winning Indian. Sindhu has a dismal 5-16 record against the Chinese Taipei shuttler and has not beaten her since 2019. Earlier this month, Tai Tzu Ying knocked PV Sindhu out of the Malaysia Open quarter-finals.

In her second-round match, Tzu Ying came from behind to beat Malaysia's Goh Jin Wei 16-21, 21-7, 21-15.

In men's singles, H.S Prannoy ranked 19th also cruised into the men's singles quarter-finals after beating Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei 21-19, 21-16, in a second-round match that lasted for 44 minutes. The 29-year-old Prannoy will face Japan's Kanta Tsuneyama in the quarterfinal.

However, other Indian male shuttlers — Parupalli Kashyap and B Sai Praneeth — bowed out after losing their respective second-round matches in the BWF Super 500 badminton tournament.

While Kashyap went down 10-21, 15-21 to Indonesian sixth seed Anthony Ginting, world bronze medallist B Sai Praneeth lost to Chinese shuttler Li Shi Feng 14-21, 17-21. IANS

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