Asiad 2018: Saina, Sindhu in quarters; Ashwini-Sikki out

Ace Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu advanced to the quarter-finals of the women's singles competition while the women's duo of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy perished in the quarters of the 2018 Asian Games here on Saturday.

The 28-year-old Saina registered a straight sets victory over Indonesia's Fitriani Fitriani 21-6, 21-14 while Sindhu overpowered Gregoria Mariska Tunjung 21-12, 21-15 in the pre-quarters.

Saina won the first game 21-6 before Fitriani dominated the early parts of the second game. However, the Indian fought back and sealed the affair 21-14.

Sindhu, on the other hand, took 34 minutes to beat her opponent. In both the games, Sindhu seemed perfect unlike the last match where she almost lost the issue.

The women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy bowed out in the quarter-finals, losing to Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan 11-21, 22-24 in straight sets.

In the first game the Indian duo were totally outplayed by their opponents but in the second game the Indian pair tried to make a comeback but failed in doing so and crashed out of the meet.

In the men's doubles category, Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost their pre-quarter final match to the South Korean pair of Kang Minhyuk and Choi Solgyu 17-21, 21-19,17-21. Another Indian pair Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy also lost their Round-of-16 match to China's Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen 13-21, 21-17, 23-25.

In a tough match which lasted around 45 minutes, Attri and Reddy lost the first game without giving much fight but bounced back in the second game with a much better display of shots.

In the decider, the Indian pair fought a valiant battle throughout the game but at the end failed to edge past their opponents.

--IANS

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