Thailand Open 2018: PV Sindhu eases into the quarter-finals, other Indian shuttlers crash out 

The 3rd day of the Thailand Open Super 500 tournament saw only PV Sindhu moving into the quarter-finals played at Bangkok on Thursday. Parupalli Kashyap, HS Prannoy, the mixed doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, and the men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy were knocked out by their respective opponents.

In men’s singles, HS Prannoy was defeated by Indonesian Sony Dwi Kuncoro in two straight games 18-21,14-21 to be knocked out of the tournament. The Indian shuttler was outplayed by his opponent and could not repeat his performance.

Kashyap lost to his Japanese Kanta Tsuneyama in three games. Tsuneyama won the first game 21-18, before Kashyap made a strong comeback to win the second game 21-18. The third game was a closely-fought affair, but Tsuneyama held his nerves to win the decider 21-19 to move into the quarter-finals.

In women’s singles, PV Sindhu outplayed Hong Kong's Yip Pui Yin in two straight games 21-16, 21-14. It was a dominating display by the Commonwealth Games silver medalllist to not allow her opponent to come back into the game. She will face Soniia Cheah of Malaysia in the quarter-finals tomorrow.

Doubles pairs disappoint

The men’s doubles pair of Sumeeth Reddy and Manu Attri showed fighting spirit against the Japanese pair of Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe in three gruelling games. The first game was a closely-fought one, with both pairs fighting for each point before Attri and Reddy won it 24-22.

In the second game, Endo and Watanabe showed their class to win it easily by 21-13. It was a closely-fought encounter in the third game before the experienced Japanese pair won by 21-19 to progress into the quarter-finals.

The mixed doubles pair of Ponappa and Rankireddy were outplayed by their Japanese opponents Yuki Kaneko and Mayu Matsumoto in two straight games 11-21,16-21 to be knocked out the tournament.