Badminton World Championships 2018: PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Sai Praneeth In Quarters; Kidambi Srikanth Out

India's PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Sai Praneeth advanced to the quarter-finals of the BWF Badminton World Championships 2018 on Thursday. Saina Nehwal defeated Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand in straight games to become the first-ever women's singles player to reach an eight consecutive quarter-finals at the World Championships. Saina defeated her opponent 21-16, 21-19 in 47 minutes. Sindhu, on the other hand, continued her fine form as she breezed past Sung Ji Hyun of South Korea 21-10, 21-18 in a match that lasted 42 minutes. Saina will face Olympic champion Carolina Marin in the quarters while Sindhu will be up against Nozomi Okuhara.

However, it was not a good day for World No.6 Kidambi Srikanth as he suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Daren Liew of Malaysia to make a premature exit. The Indian shuttler lost 18-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 41 minutes.

Praneeth sailed into the last eight by outclassing Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus 21-13, 21-11. Praneeth, who kept India's men's singles campaign on track, will face Kento Momota in the quarters.

In the mixed doubles event, the pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa beat the Malaysian pair of Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai 20-22 21-14 21-6 in 59 minutes.

The Indian mixed double pair will face the Chinese pair of Zheng Siwei and Chnhuang Yaqiong in the last eight.