Badminton World C'ship: Sindhu eyes quarter-final berth

Rio Olympics silver-medallist PV Sindhu will look to cement her spot in the quarter-finals of the ongoing Badminton World Championship when she takes on ninth-seeded Sung Ji-Hyun of South Korea in the last-16 clash here on Thursday.

Earlier, the 23-year-old had swept aside Indonesian player Fitriani Fitriani 21-14, 21-9 in her second-round clash that lasted 35 minutes.

As far as the head-to-head record is concerned, Sindhu has an edge over her Indonesian counterpart. Both players have faced each other in 12 matches and Sindhu has emerged victorious in seven of them.

The last time they played against each other was in the quarter-final of the 2018 Badminton Asia Championship, where Sindhu was thrashed 21-19, 21-10 by Sung Ji-Hyun.

In other clashes of the day, while ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth will take on Malaysia's Liew Daren in his pre-quarterfinal clash, B Sai Praneeth will face Hans-Kristian Vittinghus of Denmark.

World number 10 Saina Nehwal will also look to book her berth in the quarter-final of the tournament when she crosses sword with fourth-seeded Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.

In the mixed doubles event, Indian pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy will play against the seventh-seeded Malaysian team of Shevon Jemie Lai and Goh Soon Huat for quarters spot.