Sindhu, Satwik-Chirag enter BAC quarterfinals

Double Olympic medall 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.