Sindhu advances to quarters of Swiss Open

Taking the Indian challenge forward, P V Sindhu progressed to the women's singles quarter-finals after a tough win over Yu Po Pai in the USD 120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Basel on Thursday.

Sindhu overcame the challenge of the Taipei shuttler 21- 16 21-16 in the second round.

However, B Sai Parineeth, who had eked out a memorable win over legendary Lee Chong Wei at the All England championship, made an exit from the event after losing 19-21 6-21 to second seed Tien Chen Chou from Taipei in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals.

Sameer Verma's campaign also ended after a close 19-21 20-22 defeat against fourth seed Chinese Wang Zhengming in the third round.

Meanwhile, 13th seed HS Prannoy beat Germany's Lars Schaenzler 21-16 21-13 in a little over half an hour match to set up a meeting with 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Rajiv Ouseph of England, seeded sixth.

Another Indian in the draw, Saina Nehwal is set to clash with Kristina Gavnholt, world number 41 from Slovakia in the women's singles pre-quarterfinal later in the day.