Sydney, June 11: India’s campaign at the Australian Open Badminton Tournament received a significant boost on Thursday as two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and teenage shuttler Tanvi Sharma advanced to the women’s singles quarterfinals with convincing victories in Sydney.
Third-seeded Sindhu, currently ranked World No. 10, defeated fellow Indian Isharani Baruah 22-20, 21-12 in a second-round encounter that lasted 42 minutes.
The match began with a spirited challenge from the younger Isharani, who pushed Sindhu all the way in a closely contested opening game. The experienced Indian, however, held her nerve during the crucial stages of the tie-break to edge ahead.
Having survived the early scare, Sindhu dominated the second game with her trademark attacking play and superior court coverage, sealing the contest in straight games.
The victory takes Sindhu into the quarterfinals, where she will face Chinese Taipei’s Chen Su-yu. A win would secure Sindhu only her second semifinal appearance of the year after her run at the Malaysia Open earlier this season.
In another all-Indian women’s singles contest, 17-year-old Tanvi Sharma continued her impressive rise by defeating Malvika Bansod 21-13, 21-15.
The teenager displayed remarkable composure and consistency throughout the match, controlling rallies and maintaining pressure on her more experienced opponent. The straight-games victory earned Tanvi her second quarterfinal appearance of the season and further strengthened her reputation as one of India’s brightest badminton prospects.
Tanvi now faces her toughest challenge of the tournament when she takes on Japan’s top seed and three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi in the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, India’s women’s singles challenge suffered one setback as Tanya Hemanth bowed out of the competition. She lost 12-21, 15-21 to Thailand’s second seed and World No. 8 Pornpawee Chochuwong.
In men’s doubles, the Indian pair of MR Arjun and Hariharan Amsakarunan kept the country’s hopes alive with a comfortable 21-17, 21-7 victory over New Zealand’s Michael Owen and Dylan Soedjasa.
The duo now remains India’s only surviving pair in the men’s doubles draw after compatriots Achutaditya Rao Doddavarapu and Arjun Reddy Pochana exited the tournament following a straight-games defeat to local pair Kanki Igawa and Ooi Ye Hern.
India’s top-ranked men’s doubles combination of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty did not participate in the tournament. The pair skipped the BWF Super 500 event after Satwik suffered a shoulder injury during last week’s tournament in Indonesia.
India’s mixed doubles campaign also came to an end after Dhruv Rawat and Manisha Keer lost 19-21, 18-21 to Japan’s Akira Koga and Natsu Saito.
With Sindhu and Tanvi advancing in women’s singles and Arjun-Hariharan remaining in contention in men’s doubles, India’s hopes now rest on a handful of players as the tournament enters its decisive stages.
