-Olympics
The former world No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth lost 21-16, 21-17 to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, third in the world rankings, in the badminton men’s singles round of 16 at the Asian Games 2023. The 30-year-old Kidambi Srikanth was also knocked out in the same round at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
Indian badminton ace PV Sindhu won 21-16, 21-16 after 55 minutes against Indonesian shuttler Putri Kusuma Wardani in the women’s singles round of 16 at the Asian Games 2023. A silver medallist at the 2018 Asian Games, PV Sindhu will continue her gold surge tomorrow in the quarter-final.
HS Prannoy, too, won his men’s singles round of 16 match, beating Kazakhstan’s Dmitriy Panarin 21-12, 21-13. The 31-year-old Indian shuttler’s best finish at the continental meet, so far, was the quarter-finals in 2018. World No. 7 HS Prannoy will feature in the quarter-final tomorrow, aiming to finish better at Hangzhou 2023.
The world No. 3 ranked Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won 24-22, 16-21, 21-12 against Leo Rollycarnando and Daniel Marthin, ranked 11th in the world, in the badminton men’s doubles round of 16 at Hangzhou 2023.
The Indian pair won a closely contested first game before going down in the second. However, the third game witnessed more aggressive badminton from Satwik and Chirag while they won by nine points.
The Indian men’s doubles pair will take the court versus Singapore’s Nge Joo Jie and Prajogo Johann, world No. 106, in the quarter-final tomorrow.
Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto, on the other hand, lost 21-13, 23-21 in the women’s doubles round of 16 against Chinese world No. 6 pair Zhang Shuxian and Zheng Yu. It ended the Asian Games 2023 campaign for the Indian duo across categories.
India’s Sai Pratheek and Tanisha Crasto lost 21-18, 21-8 to world No. 9 Malaysian pair Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei in the mixed doubles round of 16 at the Asian Games 2023. While it ended Sai Pratheek’s Hangzhou campaign, Tanisha Crasto will take the court in the women’s doubles pre-quarterfinals, alongside Ashwini Ponnappa, at 10:30 AM IST today.
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, too, went down 21-15, 18-21, 21-13 in the women’s doubles round of 16 against Korean pair Kim Soyeong and Kong Heeyong, marking the end of their campaign at the 19th Asian Games.
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