Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu, Srikanth enter quarter-finals

Rio de Janeiro, Aug 15: Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth edged past Jan O Jorgensen of Denmark in his round-of-16 match at the Olympics here on Monday.

Srikanth will meet Chinese superstar Lin Dan in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Sindhu had a 2-4 record against Tai Tzu going into the match, having beaten her last at the Denmark Open previous year, but she opened up a 3-1 lead early on and managed to lead 11-6 at the break.

The London Olympics bronze medallist and world no. 5 who had inflammation on her right knee, lost 18-21 19-21 to World No. 61 Maria in a match that lasted 39 minutes at the pavillion 4 Riocentre here. It was a thrilling encounter and in both the sets, Saina Nehwal came very close to clinching the final crucial points but some errors on her side and some fantastic smashes from Marija Ulitina took the game away!

After the change in ends, Sindhu committed a couple of unforced errors and Li too produced a down the line smash to narrow it down to 10-11.

The second game went in nearly similar fashion as Sindhu took a 11-6 lead, before giving herself eight match points with the score at 20-12. Srikanth opened up a 15-12 lead but the left-handed shuttler kept breathing down the neck of the Indian.

Earlier, Srikanth had joined Parupalli Kashyap as the only two Indian men’s singles players to reach the quarterfinals of the Olympics. “I was tense but not for my qualification, it was my game that I was anxious about since I knew if I can play well, I will automatically qualify”, Srikanth told PTI. “It is my first Olympics and I am really trying to enjoy playing here”.

Sindhu raced to a 12-6 lead in the first game, before world No. 8 Tai momentarily looked to be coming back into it, making it 15-13 in the Indian’s favour. The duo engaged in a fierce battle of supremacy and moved neck and neck before Srikanth managed to enter the break with a 11-9 advantage. However, he sealed it next with another powerful cross court smash.

In the second game, the Denmark player upped the ante and played a disciplined game to maintain the lead from the start.