Madrid: In the ongoing Madrid Spain Masters badminton tournament, PV Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medalist and former world champion, secured a place in the pre-quarterfinals after defeating Canada's Wen Yu Zhang in the first round.
Sindhu, seeded second in the tournament, won the match 21-16, 21-12 in just 30 minutes. She is currently ranked 11th in the world and will face off against Huang Yu-Husn of Chinese Taipei in the next round.
However, Ashmita Chaliha, another Indian contender in the women's singles, was eliminated in the first round after losing to Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand.
In the men's singles event, Sathish Kumar Karunakaran lost a closely contested match to Jason Teh of Indonesia. Additionally, Kidambi Srikanth, the spearhead of India's men's singles challenge, suffered a defeat against Japan's Koo Takahashi in the first round. Mithun Manjunath also faced a loss against Wang Tzu Wei of Chinese Taipei.
In the mixed doubles category, the Indian pair of Sathish Kumar Karunakaran and Aadya Variath lost to Rinov Rivaldy and Pitha Haningtyas Menthari of Indonesia. However, the duo of BS Reddy and N Sikki Reddy advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after defeating Chen Zhi Ray and Yang Ching Tun of Chinese Taipei.
The tournament, which started on March 26, will conclude on March 31. It offers ranking points for the Paris 2024 Olympics, scheduled for July-August this year. The ranking period for badminton began on May 1, 2023, and will end next month.