Srikanth, Kashyap enter quarterfinals at Swiss Open

Four Indian shuttlers, including double Olympic medallist P V Sindhu and World Championships silver winner Kidambi Srikanth, progressed to the quarterfinals of the Swiss Open badminton tournament.

While Sindhu, a former world champion, eased into the last 8 with a 21-19 21-14 win over Neslihan Yigit of Turkey, Srikanth staved off a spirited challenge from France’s Christo Popov, ranked 60th, with a fighting 13-21 25-23 21-11 win in the Super 300 tournament.

Second seed Sindhu will square off against either fifth seed Canada’s Michelle Li or Denmark’s Line Christophersen.

Seventh seeded Srikanth, who had missed India leg of the BWF tour in January after testing positive for COVID-19, will face second seeded Dane Anders Antonsen next.Former top 10 player HS Prannoy also struggled past Finland’s Kalle Kolionen 19-21 21-13 21-9 to find a place in the quarters as did former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap after top seed and Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen gave a walkover.

In other results, third seeds Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty lost 19-21 20-22 to Indonesian pairing of Pramudya Kusumawardana and Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan in the men’s doubles.In the women’s singles, Ashmita Chaliha put up a tough fight before going down 18-21 20-22 to eighth seeded Scot Kirsty Gilmour in the second round.

On Wednesday night, Sindhu had entered the second round with a 21-14 21-12 win over Denmark’s Line Hojmark Kjaersfeldt here. Sindhu, also a former world champion, will face Neslihan Yigit of Turkey late in the day.

Also progressing was the women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, who got the better of local pair Aline Muller and Jenjira Stadelmann 21-15 21-16 in straight games.