Sindhu, Kashyap advance

New Delhi: Top seed Parupalli Kashyap continued his winning streak in defence of his men’s singles title at the 78th senior national badminton championships even as the second day was marked by a spate of on-court injures at the Siri Fort Sports Complex hereon Saturday.

While Delhi’s Tanvir Gill was the first to be carried out on a stretcher with a twisted knee during his mixed doubles third round match, Andhra Pradesh’s Shriyanshi Pardeshi — who created a flutter on Friday with her upset win over ex-champion Trupti Murgunde — and Ruthvika Shivani G. conceded their respective women’s singles last-16 matches with shin and ankle injuries.

Kashyap, playing with a taped shoulder, overcame Subhankar Dey — who had defeated former champion Chetan Anand 21-18, 21-16 in the third round, earlier in the day — 21-14, 21-13 for a place in the men’s singles pre-quarterfinals. 

Kashyap will next face seventh seed H.S. Prannoy, who beat Abhi-manyu Singh 21-14, 21-10.

However, the day’s most engrossing matches were between fourth seed Anand Pawar and former champion Arvind Bhat and B. Sai Praneeth against Sameer Verma.

Pawar and Praneeth, nursing a shin injury, were the eventual winners with 21-18, 12-21, 21-19 and 11-21, 21-13, 21-17 victories, respectively.

In the women’s section, world championships bronze medallist P.V. Sindhu and defending champion Sayali Gokhale stayed on course for a summit showdown, which will be a repeat of last year’s nationals.

Sindhu had an easy opponent in ninth seed Mudra Dhainje and cruised into the pre-quarters with a 21-3, 21-7 win, while Sayali survived a scare before beating Ruth Misha V. 21-19, 21-6.