Telugu Badminton stars shine in Olympics

It was a stunning performance from Telugu Badminton stars PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth to take them a step closer to their Olympic dream. Indian shuttlers booked their quarterfinals berths to keep medal hopes alive on Monday. While, Srikanth reached the quarterfinals after a thrilling win over Denmark's Jan Jorgensen in his Round of 16 match, two-time World Championship bronze-medallist P V Sindhu advanced to the last-eight stage after notching up a dominating straight-game win over Chinese Taipei's Tai Tzu Ying at the Olympic Games here. The 21-year-old from Hyderabad outclassed eighth seed Tai 21-13, 21-15 in a 40-minute pre-quarterfinals clash here.

She will next face Chinese World No. 2 Wang Yihan, who is also the reigning Olympics silver medallist.Srikanth, ranked 11th in the world, topped Group H and became the second shuttler after P Kashyap in the 2012 London Games to reach the last eight in men's singles. Srikanth continued his commanding form to register a 21-19, 21-19 win over Denmark's Jan Jorgensen in just 42 minutes. In a hard fought first game, both shuttlers started on an attacking note, but it was Srikanth who managed to maintain the lead with some bodyline smashes. Jorgensen, bronze medallist in the 2014 World Championships, gave a tough fight at the end but it was the Indian lad who proved superior to clinch the first game.