China Masters: Sindhu, Lakshya, Malvika reach pre-quarters

Shenzhen [China], November 20 (ANI): Two-time Olympic medalist Indian shuttler PV Sindhu started off her campaign at ongoing China Masters badminton tournament with a win over Busanan Ongbamrungphan of Thailand on Wednesday.
In a clash lasting one hour and 22 minutes, Sindhu defeated Busanan by 21-17, 21-19.
Also in another exciting women's singles clash, Malvika Bansod made it to the next round with a win over Line Kjaersfeldt of Denmark in her round of 32 match. She defeated Line by 20-22, 23-21, 21-16 in a hard-fought match.
Lastly in the men's singles competition, India's Commonwealth Games champion Lakshya Sen defeated Lee Zii Jia of Malaysia by 21-14, 13-21, 21-13 in a match lasting 42 minutes to reach pre-quarterfinals.
Indian mixed doubles duo B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy secured a win in their opening round match at the ongoing China Masters badminton tournament on Tuesday.
The world number 32 mixed doubles pair took just over an hour to remove the American duo of Presley Smith and Jennie Gai, 145th in the world badminton rankings, 23-21, 17-21, 21-17, as per Olympics.com.
The Indian duo will be up against the China's current world number two-ranked duo of Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping, who are also the top seeds, in the round of 16. Ping secured the mixed doubles gold medal at the Paris Olympics this year with Wang Yilyu as partner.
Among the other Indian players playing, Priyanshu Rajawat bowed out of the men's singles event after a loss to Indonesia's Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo by 24-22, 13-21, 18-21.
Rajawat took a lead in the first game however, he could not maintain the momentum in the next two games, except for a brief period in the decider when he led by four points.
Coming to the women's singles action, the 46th-ranked Aakarshi Kashyap was outdone by Japan's world No. 14 Tomoka Miyazaki, who won the match, 21-10, 21-18.
Anupama Upadhyaya will play USA's Beiwen Zhang later, as she stunned world number 15 from the USA, Beiwen Zhang by 21-17, 8-21, 22-20 in 48 minutes.
Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, the Indian top-ranked men's doubles pair, will also be in action. The duo will be playing for the first time since the Paris Olympics 2024, where they failed to secure a medal. (ANI)