Asian Championships in Dubai: Sindhu faces old nemesis Se-young in quarters

Among the many astonishing feats An Se-young has achieved during a short span of time, her absolute dominance over Indian superstar PV Sindhu is truly mind-boggling.

The 21-year-old An will be brimming with confidence when she steps on the court against Sindhu in the quarterfinals of the KhiladiX.com Dubai 2023 Badminton Asia Championships at the Rashid bin Hamdan Hall in Al Nasr Club on Friday.

The South Korean sensation, who beat Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-19, 21-16 in the round of 16 on Thursday, enjoys a commanding 5-0 head-to-head record against Sindhu, the two-time Olympic medallist and the 2019 world champion.

An, the world number two who has won 14 BWF World Tour singles titles, a World Championship bronze and the All England Championship title in four years, was ruthless against Ongbamrungphan on Thursday.

Couple of hours after An's emphatic victory, Sindhu produced her best performance since returning from a four-month injury lay-off with a thumping 21-12, 21-15 win over China's Han Yue, the world number nine.

“It was a good match. I didn’t expect to win it in straight games, but happy to get the confidence ahead of tougher matches," Sindhu said.

But the 27-year-old Indian star knows she has a mountain to climb against her Korean nemesis.

"It won’t be easy tomorrow as I face An Se Young. I haven’t had good record against her," Sindhu admitted.

"But I will go out with all confidence. It will be an important match for me and I hope to play with a new strategy to win against her," she added before revealing her strategy against An.

"I will try to engage her in rallies and try to not give away the lead!”

Meanwhile, fourth seed Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei set up a mouthwatering clash with fifth seeded Chinese He Bing Jiao with an impressive 21-18, 21-6 win over Natsuki Nidaira of Japan.

Quarterfinals line-up

Friday

Rashid bin Hamdan Hall in Al Nasr Club, Dubai

Matches start at 1 pm

Men's singles