Badminton Asia Team Championships: India blank Singapore to enter quarters

K. Srikanth celebrates his 21-16, 12-21, 21-13 win over Singapore’s Zi Liang Derek Wong in Hyderabad on Wednesday. (Photo: Deepak Deshpande

India booked themselves a spot in the quarter-finals of both the men’s and women’s competitions in the Badminton Asia Team Championships at the GMC Balayogi Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.

The men annihilated Singapore 5-0 while the women followed that up with a 5-0 win, also over Singapore.

India needed just one win to advance to the last eight stage, as Singapore had lost both of their opening ties.

And the hosts, playing with ruthless efficiency, didn’t disappoint. They won all 10 of their matches to comprehensively shut the door on Singaporean hopes.

Playing in the evening, P.V. Sindhu, P.C. Thulasi, G. Ruthvika Shivani, Jwala Gutta/Ashwini Ponnappa and Sindhu/Sikki Reddy claimed victories in their respective matches.

Sindhu defeated Xiaoyu Liang 21-17, 21-11; Thulasi thumped Hui Zhen Grace Chua 21-16, 21-7 and reigning national champion Shivani beat Jia Min Yeo 21-14, 21-11. The remaining two matches were a mere formality.

Earlier in the men’s section, Srikanth kicked things off with a hard-fought three-gamer against Zi Liang Derek Wong and his teammates followed suit, winning the remaining all four matches to destroy Singapore.

Srikanth claimed the first game 21-16, but Derek stormed back into contention when he took the second set 21-12. Srikanth kept his head and bagged the decider 21-13.

It was smooth sailing for the doubles pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy in the second match as they defeated Yong Kay Terry Hee in straight games 21-15, 21-14. Ajay Jayaram clinched the tie when he beat Kean Yew Loh 21-11, 21-18.

On Thursday, India’s men take on China while the women run into Japan.