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Rediff.com  » Sports » Australian Open: It's an all India affair as Srikanth to face Praneeth in quarter-final

Australian Open: It's an all India affair as Srikanth to face Praneeth in quarter-final

Source: ANI
Last updated on: June 22, 2017 18:09 IST
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PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal have also moved to the quarters

 India's Kidambi Srikanth in action against Korea's Son Wan Ho during their Round of 16 match at the Australian Badminton Open at Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney, on Thursday

IMAGE: India's Kidambi Srikanth in action against Korea's Son Wan Ho during their Round of 16 match at the Australian Badminton Open at Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney, on Thursday. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth battled back from a game down against reigning World No.1 Son Wan Ho to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open Super Series in Sydney on Thursday.

Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu also advanced to the quarter-finals of the women's singles competition with a straight game win over China's Chen Xiaoxin.

Defending champion Saina Nehwal also moved into the last eight with a 21-15, 20-22, 21-14 win over Soniia Cheah.

She will face World No. 6 Sun Yu on Friday.

After losing the first game, the 24-year-old Srikanth rebounded strongly to clinch a 15-21, 21-13, 21-13 win over Wan Ho in a gruelling second-round clash that lasted almost an hour.

Srikanth, who entered the tournament on the back of his maiden Indonesia Super Series Premier title, has defeated Wan Ho for the second time in two weeks.

The Indian shuttler had beaten the South Korean ace in the semi-finals of the Indonesia Open last week.

After this win, Srikanth had taken his head-to-head record against the Korean to 4-4.

"In the third game I thought I have to get the extra shuttle, that worked for me," said Srikanth.

"He's someone who doesn't attack too much, just keeps the rally going. You have to be more steady than him or you have to crack him. In these conditions it's hard to go on all-out attack. My training is paying off. I'm really confident about my fitness."

Srikanth has now set up a last-eight clash against his compatriot B Sai Praneeth.

Praneeth cemented his place in the quarter-finals of the tournament after brushing aside China's Huang Yuxiang 21-15, 18-21, 21-13 in his men's singles clash that lasted one hour and five minutes.

Later in the day, fifth seed Sindhu defeated Chen 21-13, 21-18 in 46 minutes. She will clash with either Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon or World No. 1 and top seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei.

In the women's doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy fought well before suffering a 21-18, 18-21, 13-21 loss to seventh seeded Japanese pair of Shiho Tanaka and Koharu Yonemoto.

The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also suffered a 16-21, 18-21 loss to eighth seeded Chinese Taipei's Chen Hung Ling and Wang Chi-Lin.

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Source: ANI

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