Double Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and the promising Priyanshu Rajawat crashed out in the pre-quarterfinals of their respective events at the Badminton Asia Championships on Thursday. The 29-year-old Sindhu, ranked 17th in the world, fought hard before going down 12-21 21-16 16-21 to world number four and third seed Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in women’s singles contest that lasted one hour and six minutes. Rajawat lost in straight games 14-21 17-21 against world number seven and fifth seed Kodai Naraoka of Japan in the men’s singles competition.
It was curtains for Kiran George as well in the men’s singles event, as he lost 21-19 13-21 16-21 against world number five and fifth seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand.
India’s campaign has ended in the men’s and women’s singles events.
However, the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto entered the quarterfinals, beating Ye Hong Wei and Nicole Gonzales Chan of Chinese Taipei 12-21 21-16 21-18.
Kapila and Crasto will next face fifth seeds Chun Man Tang and Ying Suet Tse of Hong Kong.
But the other Indian mixed doubles pair of Ashith Surya and Amrutha Pramuthesh exited after losing 11-21 14-21 against top seed Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin of China.
Later in the day, Hariharan Amsakarunan and Ruban Kumar Rethinasabapathi will take on sixth seeded Malaysian duo of Aaron Chia and Wooi Yik Soh in the men’s doubles competition.
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