Prannoy earns stunning win, joins Sindhu in last-8

KUALA LUMPUR: PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy secured contrasting wins here on Thursday to enter the Malaysia Open Super 750 quarter-finals.

Unseeded Prannoy registered the biggest upset of the day when he eliminated World No.4 Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei 21-15, 21-7. Fresh from his semi-final finish at the Indonesia Open Super 1000 last week, the 29-year-old was a slow starter in both games.

But once he gained his ground, there was no stopping the Indian, who sealed his men’s singles last-eight passage with 12 points on the trot. Parupalli Kashyap, however, failed to make the last-eight stage, going down to Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn by a scoreline of 19-21, 10-21.

Meanwhile, Sindhu took some time to adjust to the gameplay of Thailand youngster Phittayaporn Chaiwan as the World No.7 lost the opening game before pulling off a 19-21, 21-9, 21-14 win in the hard-fought women’s singles second-round contest.

Satwik-Chirag duo pulls out

The men’s doubles combination of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty gave a walkover to the local pair of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin in the Round-of-16.

“Satwik pulled a muscle in his core. He was feeling better, but not good enough to play. With the Birmingham Commonwealth Games around the corner, the coaches and physios advised him to not play. Hence, the Satwik-Chirag duo pulled out,” said an official.