PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy in pre-quarters

Three Indian shuttlers, including P.V. Sindhu, advanced to the pre-quarter-finals of the $120,000 Macau Open Grand Prix Gold but it was curtains for Ajay Jayaram in the men’s singles on Wednesday.

Two-time bronze medallist at World Championship Sindhu, seeded fifth, defeated Kim Hyo Min of Korea 21-13, 22-20 in a women’s singles match. She will face the winner of the match between Indonesia’s Lindaweni Fanetri and Cheng Chi Ya of Chinese Taipei.

In the men’s singles, seventh seed H.S. Prannoy saw off Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chia Hsuan 21-19, 21-15 and will meet China’s Qiao Bin.

B. Sai Praneeth, seeded 15th, spanked Uzbekistan’s Artyom Savatyugin 21-11, 21-8 and faces the winner of the match between Indonesia’s Andre Kurniawan Tedjono and Chinese Taipei’s Yang Chih Chieh.

However, it turned out to be a disappointing day for ninth seed Jayaram as he lost 11-21, 17-21 to Lin Guipu of China.

The 2010 Commonwealth Games champions Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa lost 16-21, 15-21 to Japan’s Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota in the women’s doubles event.