Kuala Lumpur: Indian start shuttlers and high-ranked players PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy move into the quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters 2023 badminton championships at the Round of 16 stages of women's and men's singles, respectively, on Thursday.
When double Olympic medallist Sindhu won over Aya Ohori of Japan 21-16, 21-11 in straight sets, Prannoy had to struggle and lost his first set to win at the decider in their respective pre-quarter battles. Prannoy faced All England champion Li Shi Feng of China.
Prannoy had started his campaign here with a hard-fought 16-21, 21-14, 21-13 win against sixth-seeded Hou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei on Wednesday. He will face Japan's Kenta Nishimoto in a last-8 encounter on Friday.
Sindhu, who won a silver at Rio Olympics in 2016 and followed that up with a bronze in Tokyo 2020, will lock horns with China's Zhang Yi Man to book a spot in the semifinals.
Former World Championship silver and bronze medallists Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen are the other Indians to advance to pre-quarters in men's singles and will be in action later in the day.
India's Aakarshi Kashyap, Asmita Chalia and Malvika Bansod crashed out of the tournament's women's singles in the first round itself.