Sindhu, Jwala-Ashwini in Asia Championships semis

P.V. Sindhu and the women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa had contrasting quarter-final victories to proceed to the $200,000 Badminton Asia Championships semi-finals at the Gimcheon Indoor Stadium here Friday.

Jwala and Ashwini took only 40 minutes to move past Malaysian pair Anscelly Amelia Alicia and Soong Fie Cho with an exact scoreline of 21-12 in both games to enter their first last four clash in an international tournament in almost two years. With their win, they took a 2-0 lead in career meets against the Malaysian duo.

In the next round, the Commonwealth Games gold medallists will take on tough Chinese combine Luo Ying and Luo Yu. The World No.10 Chinese duo have a 2-0 unbeaten record against the Indians.

Earlier, 2013 World Championship bronze medallist Sindhu lost the first game 14-21 but came back strongly to win the next two games 21-13, 21-10 in 58 minutes against Thai Ongbumrungpan Busanan. With the win, the Hyderabadi has taken an unbeaten 3-0 lead in career meetings over the Thai girl.

The women's singles World No.10 faces a tough semi-final clash Saturday against Chinese World No.2 Shixian Wang. Though Sindhu has a 3-1 lead against the reigning All-England champion, significantly Shixian beat Sindhu on her way to clinching the India Open Super Series title last month.

Meanwhile in the men's singles quarter-final, R.M.V. Gurusaidutt's journey ended on a disappointing note as he went down to China's Liu Kai 24-22, 9-21, 13-21 in exactly an hour.