Asian Badminton Championship
Agencies, Alor Setar
India managed to enter the quarter-finals of the Asian Badminton Championship despite losing to Japan 4-1, here at Sultan Abdul Halim Stadium here on Thursday, but ace shuttler P V Sindhu beat her opponent.
Without much sweat in the women’s singles, Sindhu thrashed world no 2 Akane Yamaguchi 21-19, 21-15. In another singles, world No 13 Sayaka Sato defeated Sri Krishna Priya 21-12, 21-12 to level the team score to 1-1. Later, Ashwini Ponappa lost to Aya Ohori 14-21, 12-21.
In the women’s doubles, the Indian duo of Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant lost 17-21, 17-21 to Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto as Japan took 3-1 lead.
The other women’s doubles the pair of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi beat Ashwini and N Sikki Reddy 21-18, 21-18. Japan and India have qualified for the quarter-finals with the first and second spots in their group respectively.
Later, Ashwini Ponappa was defeated 14-21, 12-21 by world No.16 Aya Ohori
In the women’s doubles, the Indian duo of Sanyogita Ghorpade and Prajakta Sawant lost 17-21, 17-21 to the team of Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto as Japan took an unassailable lead of 3-1.
The other women’s doubles the pair of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi defeated Ashwini and N Sikki Reddy 21-18, 21-18.Japan and India both qualified for the quarter-finals with the first and second spots in their group respectively.
Earlier, the women’s team led by Sindhu defeated Hong Kong by 3-2 in the tournament which also serves as Asian qualification for the 2018 Thomas and Uber Cup. Later in the day, the men’s team will face Indonesia.They had earlier defeated both the Philippines and the Maldives by 5-0.