Jakarta witnessed another stellar performance from Indian shuttlers as PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen cruised into the quarterfinals of the Indonesia Masters on Thursday. The duo delivered convincing victories in their pre-quarterfinal clashes, keeping India’s challenge alive in this BWF Super 300 tournament.
Double Olympic medalist PV Sindhu overcame Denmark’s Line Kjaersfeldt in a hard-fought encounter, winning 21-19, 21-18 after 43 minutes of intense rallies. This victory marked Sindhu’s sixth win in seven meetings against Kjaersfeldt, with the Dane having edged her out only once last year at the Sudirman Cup.
Earlier on Wednesday, Sindhu had battled past Japan’s Manami Suizu 22-20, 21-18 in a 53-minute thriller to reach this stage. Now, the former world champion faces a stern test against top seed and world No. 4 Chen Yufei of China. The head-to-head stands at 7-6 in favor of the Chinese star across 13 encounters.
In the men’s singles, Paris Olympics semifinalist Lakshya Sen dominated Hong Kong’s Jason Gunawan 21-10, 21-11 in under 30 minutes. Sen, who upset Chinese Taipei’s Wang Tzu-wei 21-13, 16-21, 21-14 on Wednesday, next meets Thailand’s Panitchapong Teeraratsakul.
Kidambi Srikanth, the former world No. 1, advanced to the round of 16 by defeating Japan’s Koki Watanabe 21-15, 21-23, 24-22 and will take on Taiwan’s Chou Tien Chen. However, Anmol Kharb faces a tough task against Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in women’s singles second round.
Disappointment struck as world championships bronze medalist HS Prannoy and rising star Tanvi Sharma exited in the first round on Wednesday. Kiran George lost 21-17, 21-14 to Indonesia’s Mohammad Zaki Ubaidillah in men’s singles, while mixed doubles pairs Dhruv Kapila/Tanisha Crasto and Rohan Kapoor/Ruthvika Shivani also bowed out early.
With Sindhu and Sen leading the charge, India eyes deeper runs in Jakarta, boosting morale ahead of upcoming international events.
