Three Indians, including P V Sindhu, advanced to the pre-quarter-finals in the US $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, but it was curtains for Ajay Jayaram in the men's singles, on Wednesday.
Two-time World Championships bronze medallist Sindhu, seeded fifth, defeated Kim Hyo Min of Korea 21-13, 22-20 in a women's singles match to set up a meeting with Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri, who overcame Cheng Chi Ya of Chinese Taipei 21-11, 21-9.
In the men's singles, seventh seed H S Prannoy saw off Chinese Taipei's Lin Chia Hsuan, winning 21-19, 21-15. He will meet China's Qiao Bin, who got the better of Malaysia’s Wei Feng Chong 21-16, 21-8.
B Sai Praneeth, seeded 15th, spanked Uzbekistan's Artyom Savatyugin 21-11, 21-8 and will meet Indonesia's Andre Kurniawan Tedjono, who beat Chinese Taipei's Yang Chih Chieh 21-15, 21-17.
However, it turned out to be a disappointing day for ninth seed Jayaram. He lost 11-21, 17-21 to Lin Guipu of China in the singles.
2010 Commonwealth Games champion Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa continued their rough patch as they were beaten 16-21, 15-21 to the Japanese pair of Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in the women's doubles.
Image: P V Sindhu
Photograph: Victor Fraile/Getty Images
