PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth advance to quarterfinals of Madrid Spain Masters

Indian star shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth advanced to the singles quarterfinals of the Madrid Spain Masters badminton tournament with straight-game wins on Thursday. While Sindhu defeated Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia, Srikanth beat compatriot B Sai Praneeth.

Two-time Olympic medallist, Sindhu dispatched Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-16 21-14 in a little over half an hour game and entered her first quarterfinal in the year 2023. Srikanth, on the other hand, pulled off a 21-15 21-12 second-round win over B Sai Praneeth.

Since Sindhu returned after recovering from injury, she has been struggling for form during this season. It is the first time in 2023 that the 27-year-old former world champion has crossed the second round. She will take on 25-year-old Danish Mia Blichfeldt in the last eight stage of the



Super 300 tournament.

Srikanth who is seeded fifth will face former world No. 1 is pitted against top seed Kenta Nishimoto of Japan in the thrilling quarterfinals. Nishimoto was handed a walkover by France's Arnaud Merkle in their second-round contest.

When it comes to other Indians in the competition, Kiran George and Priyanshu Rajawat crashed out of the men's singles event after suffering second-round defeats. While George suffered a loss to Denmark's Magnus Johannesen 17-21 12-21 in 31 minutes, Rajat was outplayed 14-21 15-21 by Toma Junior Popov of France.

Aakarshi Kashyap, Ashmita Chaliha Malvika Bansod, and Sameer Verma are set to play their second-round matches. The men's and women's doubles pair of MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila and Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil will also be in action.