Badminton Asia Championships: Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag storm into quarterfinals

Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu advanced to the quarterfinals of the Badminton Asia Championships after beating lowly-ranked Yue Yann Jaslyn Hooi of Singapore in straight games in the women's singles competition on Thursday.

The fourth-seeded Indian, who had claimed a bronze in the 2014 Gimcheon edition, defeated Jaslyn Hooi, ranked 100th, 21-16 21-16 in 42 minutes to set up a clash with third seed Chinese He Bing Jiao, whom she had beaten for a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

Sindhu has a 7-9 head-to-head record against Bing Jiao, whom she has beaten twice in the last two meetings.

The third-seeded Indian men's doubles pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also made it to the quarterfinals with a 21-17 21-15 win over Japan's Akira Koga and Taichi Saito.

The world number 7 Indian pairing will face next either fifth-seeded Malaysian Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik or the Singaporean duo of Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Jun Liang Andy Kwek.

Meanwhile, Saina Nehwal lost to China's Wang Zhi Yi, the World No. 16 despite putting on a solid fight, 21-12, 7-21, 13-21 to exit the continental championships.

Former World No. 1 Kidambi Srikanth also put up a strong fight against China's Weng Hong Yang and engaged in a 1 hour 17 minutes heated clash but ultimately, Srikanth couldn't get the last word as Weng won, 21-16, 17-21, 21-17.

In the mixed doubles as well, the pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto gave it their all against the Malaysian duo of Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing but failed to cross the hurdle, losing 21-18, 21-18.