Jaipur: India's star badminton player PV Sindhu put in a fine performance on Saturday, beating Chinese Taipei's Chiu Pin-chian in the women's singles match at Asian Games 2026, played at the Ichinomiya City Municipal Gymnasium, to reach the pre-quarterfinal.
The two-time Asian Games medallist recovered from a slow start to beat Chiu Pin-chian. Sindhu was trailing 10-11 at the break in the first game. She then fought her way back into the contest, and after losing the first two game points on offer, won the first game on her third game point.
The two-time Olympic medallist then carried that momentum into the second game, building an 11-7 lead by the break, and went on to win the second game 21-14 to seal victory.
Sindhu will now take on Japan's Tomoka Miyazaki in the round of 16, with the match scheduled for 6:30pm IST today, 26 September. Earlier, the Indian women's badminton team, led by Sindhu, had lost to Japan.
Sindhu had missed out on a medal at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, where she was knocked out in the women's singles quarter-final. This time round, she has another chance to win an Asian Games medal.
Indian badminton player Unnati Hooda also won her second-round match, beating Malaysia's Wong Ling Ching 21-14, 20-22, 21-9. Hooda will face Indonesia's Putri Kusuma Wardani in the round of 16 on Saturday. Women's singles players are required to play two matches on the same day.
In the men's singles, Ayush Shetty won his second-round match, beating Kazakhstan's Maksut Tajikullayev in straight games, 21-7, 21-7. He will next face Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien-chen, with a closely fought contest expected between the two. Meanwhile, Lakshya Sen was knocked out of the men's singles, losing his second-round match to Singapore's Loh Kean Yew 12-21, 21-15, 14-21.