Indian shuttlers shine as PV Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag, Dhruv-Tanisha enter pre-quarters

PV Sindhu started slowly and sluggishly, just like on Tuesday. Her mind seemed to be someplace else. But she picked up steam midway through the match to enter the women’s singles pre-quarterfinals in the BWF World Championships in Paris on Wednesday. Joining Sindhu in the last 16 were the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto and men’s doubles duo Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. Sindhu, the 2019 world champion, overcame Letshanaa Karupathevan of Malaysia 21-19, 21-15 in the second round match that lasted 42 minutes. Sindhu struggled initially and was trailing by a big margin against her 20-year-old Malaysian rival. Karupathevan, ranked No. 40, was poised to take the first game as she was leading comfortably at 18-12. However, Sindhu bounced back strongly by taking nine out of the last 10 points to clinch the opening game 21-19. Displaying flashes of brilliance of the old, 30-year-old Sindhu reeled off six straight points and levelled the score at 18-all. She put immense pressure on her young rival who began making unforced errors. Although Karupathevan finally took a point and made it 19-18, Sindhu kept her composure and levelled again at 19-19, dishing out a clean smash to pocket the game point, which was also the first time the Indian led in the game. Sindhu then closed out the game by grabbing two successive points. Sindhu, ranked No. 15, maintained her tempo and dominated the second game, leading from start to finish. Sindhu, who got the better of Bulgaria’s Kaloyana Nalbantova in the first round on Tuesday, produced several down the line smashes and excellent net play to outclass Karupathevan. She will take on second seed Wang Zhi Yi of China in the pre-quarters. Satwik and Chirag also did not have the best of the starts but quickly recovered to beat Yang Po Han and Liu Kuang of Chinese Taipei 22-20, 21-13 to book their place in the last 16. The Indians had to stretch fully to claim the extended opening game 22-20. The former world No. 1 Indian duo showed excellent chemistry on the court to avenge fellow Indians’ defeat in 43 minutes. Yang and Liu had knocked out India’s RK Rethinasabapathi and H Amsakarunan on Tuesday. Dhruv and Tanisha advanced with a 21-11, 21-16 win over Joshua Magee and Moya Ryan of Ireland.