Kuala Lumpur. Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu defeated Korea’s Sim Yu Jin in a hard-fought contest but the highlight of the day was Ashmita Chaliha, who stunned third seed Beiwen Zheng in the second round to enter the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament here on Thursday.
Former world champion and world number 15 Sindhu defeated Korea’s world number 34 Yu Jin 21-13 12-21 21-14 in 59 minutes in the second round of women’s singles. This is Sindhu’s third win against Yu Jin.
28-year-old Sindhu from Hyderabad has failed to regain her top form after returning from a knee injury she suffered in October last year.
Fifth seed Sindhu will face top seed Hen Yui in the next round. The Chinese player defeated Sindhu in the Asia Badminton Championship in Ningbo last month. Sindhu, who won her last title at the Singapore Open in 2022, has a good record against the world number six player. The Indian player has won five out of six matches against Hen Yui. World number 53 player Ashmita then defeated world number 10 player Zheng 21-19 16-21 21-12 in three games to make it to the last eight.
Ashmita has made it to the quarter-finals of a Super 500 competition for the second time. Before this, she had also reached the last eight of India Open in 2022. This player from Guwahati will face China’s sixth seed and world number 16 player Zheng Yi Men in the next round. Ashmita has been in good form for some time now. She defeated Canada’s Michelle Lee in the Uber Cup, while Japan’s Aya Ohori came close to defeating China’s Han Yui last week.
Earlier, Sindhu started the match slowly and fell behind 3-7 in the first game. However, the Indian player made a comeback and managed to take a lead of 11-10 till the break and then won the first game with seven consecutive points. There was a tough competition between the two players in the second game. Yu Jin took a lead of 11-10 till the break and when the game resumed, she was ahead 14-10. The Korean player won seven out of the next nine points and dragged the match into the third and decisive game.
In the deciding game, Yu Jin once again started well and took a 5-1 lead. Sindhu made the score 6-6 and then took a 13-9 lead. She won the game and the match with five consecutive points at a score of 16-14. Left-handed player Ashmita started well against Zheng and took a 4-1 lead but the opponent limited her lead to just one point at the break with a score of 10-11. Zheng took a 14-13 lead but Ashmita maintained the lead after a score of 17-17 and won the first game.
A close contest was also seen in the second game. Zheng scored three consecutive points at 8-8 to take an 11-8 lead at the break and then maintained the lead to take the match into the third and deciding game. Ashmita’s dominance was seen in the decisive game. The Indian players took a lead of 11-4 and then easily won the game and the match. In other matches, in men’s singles, Kiran George had to face defeat against fifth seed Li Ji Jia by 13-21 18-21.
The seventh seeded pair of Commonwealth Games bronze medalists Trisha Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also lost 18-21 22-20 14-21 in a tough three-game match against the Korean pair of Tsung Shuo Yun and Yu Chien Hui. Had to do. In the mixed doubles, B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy suffered a 9-21 15-21 defeat against top seeded Malaysian pair of Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei while Simran Singhi and Ritika Thakar lost 9-21 15-21 to Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinah Muralitharan. India lost 17-21 11-21 in women’s doubles against the second seeded pair.