CWG 2018: Shuttlers Sindhu, Srikanth ease into quarters

Rio Olympic silver-medallist PV Sindhu continued her rich vein of form as she cemented her spot in the quarter-finals of the ongoing 21st Commonwealth Games after sweeping aside Australia's Hsuan-Yu Wendy Chen in straight games here at the Carrara Sports Arena on Thursday.

On the eighth day of CWG 2018, the 22-year-old from Hyderabad made everything look so easy as she clinched a comfortable 21-15, 21-9 win over Wendy Chen in a one-sided last-16 clash of the women's singles event that lasted 34 minutes at the Carrara Sports Arena.

Sindhu will now lock horns with Brittney Tam of Canada for a place in the semi-finals of the prestigious quadrennial event.

In men's singles clash, ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth took the final step to the summit of the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) rankings as he also made it to the last-eight after outplaying Niluka Karunaratne of Sri Lanka in straight games.

Srikanth, who has been in sublime form for quite some time now, clinched an identical 21-10, 21-10 win in two games to storm into the next round.

He will now bid for a semi-final spot when he plays the last-eight clash against yet to be decided opponent.

HS Prannoy, the other Indian in the fray, posted a comfortable 21-14, 21-6 win over Mauritius Christopher Jean Paul in a one-sided pre-quarterfinal clash that lasted half an hour.

Meanwhile, the mixed doubles pair of Satwik Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa also booked their place in quarter-finals of the CWG 2018 after brushing aside the Malaysian duo of Kristen Tsai and Nyl Yakura 21-10, 21-7 in just 25 minutes.

In another clash, Pranaav Chopra and N. Sikky Reddy defeated the Singapore team of Danny Bawa Chrisnanta and Jia Ying Crystal WONG 21-19, 21-13 to make it to the next round of the mixed doubles event.

India are currently standing at the third spot in the Games with a total of 25 medals, including 12 gold, five silver and eight bronze.