Saina, Sindhu qualify for the Quarterfinals of Asian Badminton Championship

  Commonwealth Games gold medallist Saina Nehwal and Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu produced a dominating performance to progress to the women's singles quarterfinals of Asia Badminton Championship on Thursday. Saina defeated China's Gao Fangjie 21-18 21-8 in a 40-minute clash. The 2012 Olympic Bronze medallist will now face unseeded Korean Lee Jang Mi, who saw off Thailand's former world champion Ratchanok Intanon. Sindhu who had been dominant in the previous match continued her dominance over Chinese Chen Xiaoxin, beating her 21-12, 21-15. She will now face either seventh seed Korean Sung Ji Hyun or Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan. On the other hand top seed, Kidambi Srikanth and World number 10 HS Pranoy also qualified to the next round. Srikanth cruised to the next round as Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki as his opponent who has already behind 2-7 did not continue the match. The 25-year-old from Guntur will face three-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei tomorrow. Srikanth had beaten Lee en route India's gold medal at the mixed team championship of the Commonwealth Games but the legendary Malaysian was quick to exact revenge when he beat the Indian for the individual gold at Gold Coast. Prannoy, who had reached the quarterfinals at All England Championship, meanwhile, bounced back from a game down to eke out a difficult 16-21 21-14 21-12 win over Chinese Taipei's Wang Tzu Wei. Prannoy, who missed out on a medal at the Commonwealth Games, will meet second seed Son Wan Ho of Korea. Singapore Open champion B Sai Praneeth, however, went down 12-21 12-21 to Olympic champion Chen Long, seeded third. Young men's doubles pair of Arjun MR and Ramchandran Shlok too found the going tough against the top-seeded Chinese combination of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen, losing 11-21 19-21. Women's doubles pair of Meghana Jakkapudi and Poorvisha S Ram also was no match for seventh-seeded Thai pair of Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajong and were outdone 9-21 9-21 in just 23 minutes.