India Open 2022 | PV Sindhu and Aakarshi Kashyap enter semis in women's singles
PV Sindhu in action.
|(Twitter)
Former world champion PV Sindhu defeated Ashmita Chaliha 21-7, 21-18 on Friday to go to progress to the semi-finals of the India Open 2022. Sindhu made a strong start in the quarters, defeating the 22-year-old South Asian Games gold medallist from Assam in the first game to grab an 11-7 lead.
Ashmita Chaliha was unable to get traction after that and lost the first game in 11 minutes after losing 10 straight points. With the score 11-10 at the interval, Ashmita Chaliha made fewer unforced errors and rallied more efficiently in the second game.
With the score at 15-15, the southpaw, who had advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating fifth seed Evgeniya Kosetskaya of Russia and then Yaelle Hoyaux of France, fired a flurry of counterattacks to hold Sindhu at bay. PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, stayed clinical and accelerated her pace just in time to win the match in 36 minutes.
For PV Sindhu’s next game, she will face the sixth seed, Thailand's Supanida Katethong, for a place in the finals. After Singapore's seeded third player, Yeo Jia Min, withdrew from the India Open owing to a high fever, Katethong was given a walkover.
Next in the quarterfinals, Aakarshi Kashyap beat Malvika Bansod, who had upset Saina Nehwal in the round of 16, with ease. She won the match in 45 minutes, 21-12, 21-15, and in the semifinals, she will face Thailand's second seed Busanan Ongbamrungphan.
The men’s World Championship bronze medallist Lakshya Sen, fought back from a game down to upset HS Prannoy 14-21, 21-9, 21-14 in a 60-minute seesaw fight. Ishaan Bhatnagar and Sai Pratheek K lost 21-7, 21-7 in just 19 minutes to Malaysia's Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi in men's doubles.
Terry Hee Yong Kai and Tan Wei Han of Singapore defeated Indian mixed pair Nithin HV and Ashwini Bhat 21-15, 21-19 in 30 minutes.
India then faced another setback in the mixed doubles, with veteran Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewangan falling 21-10 and 21-13 in 23 minutes against third seeds Chen Tang Jie and Peck Yen Wei of Malaysia. Later in the day, Olympians Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and world champion Loh Kean Yew will compete.
Seven shuttlers, including India's top badminton player in men's singles Kidambi Srikanth, tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day, resulting in 11 walkovers on Thursday. Other Indians who had to withdraw after testing positive for COVID-19 were Ashwini Ponnappa, Ritika Thakar, Treesa Jolly, Mithun Manjunath, Simran Singhi, and Khushi Gupta.
