Shuttler Sindhu makes winning return

Wuhan, April 22: Two-time World Championship bronze medal winning shuttler P.V. Sindhu made a winning return to the circuit when she easily beat Uzbekistan’s Ait Khurshudyan to progress to the women’s singles third round at the $200,000 Badminton Asia Championships here on Wednesday.

The eighth seeded Sindhu has been out of action since January due to a foot injury. Playing her first tourment in three months, the eighth seeded Sindhu romped past Ait 21-6, 21-5 in only 16 minutes in the second round at the Wuhan Sports Center Gymsium.

The World No.12, who had received a first round bye, will next take on Macau’s Teng Iok U, whom she will be playing for the first time.

Meanwhile in men’s doubles, it was bad news for Indian shuttlers as Japanese fourth seeds Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa took care of Akshay Dewalkar and Praav Chopra in the second round, winning 21-15, 21-17 in 36 minutes.

Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap (men’s singles) and the pair of Manu Attri and B. Sumeeth Reddy (men’s doubles) are scheduled to play their matches later in the day. IANS