KUCHING, Jan 16: Top Indian shuttlers P V Sindhu and Ajay Jayaram notched up contrasting victories in the women’s and men’s singles competition respectively to reach the semifinals of the USD 120,000 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold, here today.
Two-time World Championship bronze medallist, Sindhu defeated Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk, seeded fifth, 23-21 21-9 in a 37-minute match to set up a clash with fourth seed Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.
The World No. 11 Indian had lost to Nozomi, ranked 24, last year at the Hong Kong Open and would want to set the record straight tomorrow.
Jayaram, who clinched the Dutch Open last year, saw off Malaysia’s Daren Liew 21-16 21-23 21-8 in a gruelling contest that went on for 56 minutes. He defeated compatriot Aditya Prakash 21-6 17-21 21-14 in the earlier round today.
The 27-year-old Indian will take on Korea’s Jeon Hyeok Jin tomorrow.
It was, however, curtains for Commonwealth Games champion and third seed Parupalli Kashyap, who suffered a 21-13 17-21 13-21 loss to Zi Liang Derek Wong of Singapore in another men’s singles match.
13th seeded Indian, B Sai Praneeth, too, bowed out of the prequarterfinals after suffering a 15-21 17-21 loss to Lee Hyun Il of Korea. (PTI)
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