Malaysia Masters: Chaliha steals Sindhu’s thunder, ousts Zhang
Kuala Lumpur, May 23
Two-time Olympics medallist PV Sindhu survived a scare before prevailing over South Korea’s Sim Yu Jin but the highlight of the day was Ashmita Chaliha’s stunning win over third seed Beiwen Zhang of the USA in the second round of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 here today.
World No. 15 Sindhu saw off Sim 21-13 12-21 21-14 in a 59-minute women’s singles second-round match to register her third win over the Korean world No. 34.
The 28-year-old hasn’t been able to hit top form ever since returning to action following a knee injury sustained in October last year.
The 24-year-old Ashmita, ranked 53rd, sizzled on her way to a 21-19 16-21 21-12 win over world No. 10 Zhang to storm into the quarterfinals.
This is her second quarterfinals appearance in a Super 500 event, having reached the last-eight stage in the 2022 India Open.
In other results, Kiran George went down fighting 13-21 18-21 against fifth seed Lee Zii Jia in a men’s singles clash.
Seventh-seeded Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also lost 18-21 22-20 14-21 to the Korean pair of Sung Shuo Yun and Yu Chien Hui.
The mixed doubles pair of B Sumeeth Reddy and N Sikki Reddy went down 9-21 15-21 to the top-seeded Malaysian pair of Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei, while Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker went down 17-21 11-21 to the second-seeded Malaysians Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan.
