Defending champion Saina Nehwal and World number five Kidambi Srikanth were among the nine Indian shuttlers who entered the quarterfinals of the singles events at the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament.

Saina continued her march ahead, reaching the final eight with an easy win over Rituparna Das 21-15, 21-9, and will next clash with 2011 National Games champion Arundhati Pantawane, who defeated Spain’s Beatriz Corrales 22-20, 22-20.

Top seed Srikanth edged out Malaysia’s Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin 22-20, 20-22, 21-11 in a men’s singles match.

Srikanth will now faces off fifth seed Wei Feng Chong of Malaysia.

Two-time bronze medallist at World Championship, PV Sindhu too lived to her reputation as the third seeded Indian got across Singapore’s Jiayuan Chen 21-18, 21-14. She will lock horns with sixth seed Thailand’s Porntip Buranaprasertsuk.

In men’s singles event, Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, seeded third, emerged victories after 11th seed Misha Zilberman of Israel conceded the match at the fag end, lagging 16-21, 12-20. Kashyap, who had won the Syed Modi men’s title in 2012, will next take on Singapore’s Zi Liang Derek Wong.

Sixth seed B Sai Praneeth too entered the last eight after edging out Thailand’s Suppanyu Avihingsanon, seeded 15th, 21-16, 24-26, 21-13 in another men’s singles match.

Fourth seed H S Prannoy too made it to the quarterfinals after his rival Russia’s Vladimir Ivanov, seeded 13th, retired midway lagging 12-21, 2-5. He will take on compatriot Gurusaidutt, who defeated Thailand’s Thammasin Sitthikom 21-16, 21-19.