Sindhu, who won a silver medal in the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 and a bronze in Tokyo 2020, defeated compatriot Aakarshi Kashyap 21-14, 21-10 in a 29-minute encounter.
Srikanth registered an equally comprehensive victory, beating Su Li Yang of Chinese Taipei 21-10, 21-17 in a second-round match in Court 3 at the Quay Centre in the BWF World Tour Super 500 event.
Rajawat overcame Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei in three hard-fought games, quelling a second-game resurgence by his opponent to win 21-8, 13-21, 21-19 in 59 minutes.
Mithun Manjunath went down in three games to Malaysia’s experienced Lee Zii Jia in an hour, winning 21-13, 12-21, 21-19 in the second round.
This was Sindhu’s first clash with Aakarshi and the more experienced player held the upper hand throughout the match, pressing home her advantage for a comfortable win. Sindhu, seeded fifth in the event, will next face fourth seed Beiwen Zhang of Malaysia, who reached the last-eight stage with a hard-fought 19-21, 21-10, 21-12 win against Huang Yu-Hsun in a second-round clash.
Srikanth, who defeated Japan’s Kenta Nishimoto 21-18, 21-7 in the first round, will meet compatriot Priyanshu Rajawat for a place in the semifinals.
Rajawat won the first game easily 21-8 by not allowing his opponent many chances. The Chinese Taipei shuttler came back strongly in the next game, winning it 21-13. He then came back strongly to wrap up the match and a place in the quarterfinals.
–Ajit Weekly News
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