In a mixed day for Indian badminton Kidambi Srikanth and P V Sindhu kept India afloat by advancing to the pre-quarterfinals event here on Sunday.
In Group M women's singles, Sindhu, however, managed to eke out a 19-21, 21-15, 21-17 win over Glasgow Commonwealth Games champion li Michelle in a gruelling 72-minute match.
In men's singles, Srikanth, a former World No 3, defeated Sweden's Henri Hurskainen 21-6 21-18 in the second match of group H that lasted 34 minutes here to enter the knockout stage.
The 21-year-old Sindhu played a lot of drops at the backhand of li but the Canada shuttler was up for it. After a tough fight, Sindhu managed a slender 11-10 lead at the break in the opening game. The second game was no different as both the shuttler fought tooth and nail before Sindhu entered the break at 11-8. The Indian continued her good run and surged to a 18-13 lead and then reached the game point with a powerful smash. She eventually roared back to contest when li found the net.
After lagging 1-3 in the decider, Sindhu turned the tables at 6-5. A couple of taps from li going to the net meant Sindhu led 8-5. A deceptive net play and a judgement error by li took Sindhu to 10-5, before the Indian entered the interval with a 11-7 lead after li didn't have answer to her smash.