NEW DELHI: Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu continued her encouraging return to top-level badminton, advancing to the semifinals of the Malaysia Open Super 1000 on Friday in what is her first tournament after a prolonged injury layoff.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!World No. 18 Sindhu progressed after her quarterfinal opponent, Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi, retired hurt following the opening game at the Axiata Arena. Sindhu had dominated the first game 21-11 before the third-seeded Yamaguchi, a three-time world champion who was wearing a knee brace, decided she could not continue due to injury.
The result extended Sindhu’s head-to-head advantage over the world No. 3 Yamaguchi to 15-12 and underlined the Indian star’s growing confidence as she works her way back to peak fitness and form.Sindhu’s run in Kuala Lumpur has been marked by controlled aggression and composure. In the earlier rounds, she defeated world No. 33 Sung Shuo-yun of Chinese Taipei and then produced a solid performance to outplay eighth seed Tomoka Miyazaki of Japan, booking her place in the last eight of the prestigious BWF Super 1000 event. The victories have come as a significant boost for Sindhu, who has been sidelined for months due to injury and is carefully managing her return to competition.
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In the semifinals, Sindhu will face the winner of the quarterfinal between China’s second seed Wang Zhiyi and Indonesia’s sixth seed Putri Kusuma Wardani, as she looks to take another step forward in her comeback journey.Elsewhere, it was a mixed day for Indian badminton. Men’s singles star Lakshya Sen bowed out of the tournament after a straight-game loss to Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu in the pre-quarterfinals. Sen, ranked 13, went down 22-20, 21-15 in 53 minutes despite holding multiple game points in the opening game. It marked his third defeat in five encounters against the world No. 18.
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