Sindhu, Guru reach quarterfinals of Asian Badminton Championship

Korea: Teen sensation P V Sindhu and rising shuttler R M V Gurusaidutt reached the quarterfinals of Asian Badminton Championship with hard-fought three-game wins respectively in the women's and men's singles competition of the USD 200,000 event in Gimcheon on Thursday.

World number 10 Sindhu, who had lost thrice to the Japanese in the past, including in last year's edition of Asian Badminton, avenged her losses with a 14-21 21-13 21-18 win in an hour and 13 minutes match. The 18-year-old will next take on Thailand's Busanan Ongbumrungpan, ranked 18th in the world, who notched up an upset 22-24 21-19 21-15 win over third seeded Korean Bae Yeon Ju in another match.

Sindhu, who won the Malaysian Open and Macau Open besides the World Championship bronze last year, holds a 2-0 win record against Busanan. The Indian had beaten the Thai girl last at the All England Championships in 2013.

In the men's singles, Gurusaidutt, ranked 38 in the world, bounced back after the opening game loss to edge out Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei 17-21 21-13 21-19. The Indian will take on Chinese qualifier Liu Kai on Friday. Indian ace Parupalli Kashyap, however, went down fighting against Hsu Jen Hao of Chinese Taipei 25-23 21-17 in another hour-long match.

In women's doubles competition, Commonwealth Games gold medallist pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta prevailed over third seeded Thailand combo of Aroonkesorn Duanganong and Voravichitchaikul Kunchala 21-11 21-18. The 2011 World Championship bronze medallists will next take on Malaysia's Anscelly Amelia Alicia and Soong Fie Cho. Guru showed a lot of grit and determination as he rallied to tire out his opponent before edging him out of contest in another one-hour match.

"The shuttles were slow so I had to really play with lots of patience," Guru told PTI after the match. "After losing the first game, I was trailing 3-7 in the second but with the guidance of my coach (Madhumita Bist and Dwi Kristiawan) I managed to catch the shuttle up at the nets as I was going low till then. "There were lots of rallies in the second and I could see him getting tired and I made sure that I go up to the net and not to repeat any strokes where he played from. That really helped me."

After bouncing back in the second game, it turned out to be a neck-and-neck battle for Guru and Wang as they went were tied 9-9 at one stage before the Indian went into the interval with a 11-9 lead. After the change of ends, Wang changed gears and clawed back to 11-11 and were tied till 15-15, but Guru managed to stay ahead in the end.

Talking about his next round opponent, Liu, Guru said: "I just saw a few points when I was warming up for my match and he looked good, tall and attacking game but I definitely have a chance."