Swiss Open: Satwik-Chirag duo enters quarterfinals, PV Sindhu bows out

Second-seeded star duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the quarterfinals of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament. The pair defeated the Taiwanese pair of Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Leewith a hard-fought 12-21 21-17 28-26. The world No. 6 Chirag-Satwik duo will next face the Danish pair of Jeppe Bay and Lasse Molhede later on Friday.

Shuttler PV Sindhu failed to defend her Swiss Open Super 300 badminton title as she suffered a loss to unseeded Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a three-game women's singles second-round match in Basel. Sindhu, seeded fourth was stunned 15-21 21-12 18-21 by the 38th-ranked Wardani in their first-ever clash at the international level.

Earlier on Thursday, fifth-seeded H S Prannoy



bowed out of the second-round exit after losing in straight games against unseeded Christo Popov of France. Prannoy who was favourite in the contest, had an underwhelming performance against the world No. 40 Popov as he failed to give any fight, losing 8-21 8-21, he made an exit from the men's singles event.

However, it was Kidambi Srikanth, who was the first to crash out on Thursday. Hong Kong's Cheuk Yiu Lee defeated Srikanth. Srikanth is placed 20th in the world against his rival's 19th position. It was a thrilling match but Lee kept his composure to register a 22-20 21-17 win in the singles pre-quarterfinal contest.

National champion Mithun Manjunath also exited the tournament in the second round, losing 19-21 10-21 to Chia Hao Lee of Chinese Taipei.