Defending champion Saina Nehwal and World number five Kidambi Srikanth were among the nine Indian shuttlers who entered the quarter-finals of the singles events at the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow.
While Saina continued her march ahead, reaching the final eight with an easy win over Rituparna Das 21-15, 21-9, top seed Srikanth edged out Malaysia's Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin 22-20, 20-22, 21-11 in a men's singles match.
Olympic bronze medallist Saina, who climbed the ranking chart to No.3 position, will next clash with 2011 National Games champion Arundhati Pantawane, who defeated Spain's Beatriz Corrales 22-20, 22-20, while Srikanth faces off fifth seed Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia.
Two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, Sindhu too lived to her reputation as the third seeded Indian got across Singapore's Jiayuan Chen 21-18, 21-14. She will lock horns with sixth seed Thailand's Porntip Buranaprasertsuk on Friday.
Eighth seed PC Thulasi also notched up a 21-7 21-15 win against Russia's Evgenia Dimova 21-7 21-15 to make it to the quarter-finals. She will next face fourth seed Nichaon Jindapon of Thailand.
However, it was curtains for young Tanvi Lad, whose gruelling fight against World champion Carolina Marin, seeded second, ended with a 23-21, 19-21, 6-21 defeat.
In men's singles event, Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, seeded third, emerged victories after 11th seed Misha Zilberman of Israel conceded the match at the fag end, lagging 16-21, 12-20.
Kashyap, who had won the Syed Modi men's title in 2012, will next take on Singapore's Zi Liang Derek Wong.
Sixth seed B Sai Praneeth too entered the last eight after edging out Thailand's Suppanyu Avihingsanon, seeded 15th, 21-16, 24-26, 21-13 in another men's singles match.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist, RMV Gurusaidutt, seeded eighth, saw off Thailand's Thammasin Sitthikom 21-16, 21-19. Fourth seed H S Prannoy too made it to the quarter-finals after his rival Russia's Vladimir Ivanov, seeded 13th, retired midway lagging 12-21, 2-5. He will take on compatriot Guru.
Among others, German Open winner Arvind Bhat, seeded 16th, lost to Malaysia's Wei Feng Chong 6-21, 11-21, while seventh seed Sourabh Varma too fall by the wayside after losing a hard-fought battle 21-16, 17-21, 16-21 to Derek Wong, seeded 10th.
Image: Saina Nehwal
Photograph: PTI
