Srikanth in semis, Sindhu crashes out of Australian Open

Sydney, June 23
Kidambi Srikanth continued his fine form to enter the men’s singles semifinals but Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu bowed out of the Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament here on Friday.
In the all-Indian quarterfinal duel between Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth, it was the former who came out on top with a fighting 25-23 21-17 win over his countryman.
Srikanth, who had edged out world no.1 Son Wan Ho en route his title triumph at the Indonesia Open last week, will face fourth seed Yuqi Shi of China in the last four round.
However, it was curtains for Rio Olympics silver medallist Sindhu who failed to get the better of world no. 1 and top seed Tai Tzu Ying of the Chinese Taipei for the seventh time in her career.
Sindhu squandered a game’s advantage to go down 21-10 20 -22 16-21 in a thrilling women’s singles quarterfinal contest that lasted exactly an hour.
Defending champion and London Olympics bronze medallist Saina Nehwal will play sixth seeded Sun Yu of China in another women’s singles quarterfinal match later in the day.