Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty celebrate their win. | (Credits: Twitter)
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, India’s top men’s doubles team, easily defeated South Korea’s Kang Min Hyuk and Seo Seung Jae in the semifinal match on Saturday to go to the Indonesia Open finals for the first time. They beat the South Korean pair by 17-21, 21-19, 21-18 in the semifinal.
The Indians dropped the opening game but came back to win the following two games, which were incredibly intense and contested. According to the Badminton Association of India (BAI), this is also their first final performance at a BWF World Tour Super 1000 competition.
The contest lasted for a total of 67 minutes including a thrilling third set wherein the scores were tied 16-16 at one point after which the Indian shuttlers opened up three match-point opportunities, racing into a 20-16 lead. In total, the Indian duo won 59 points, they also racked up 7 consecutive points during the encounter earning a hard-fought comeback win.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the semi-finals:
With the victory, Satwik and Chirag moved up to No. 6 in the BWF World Rankings, passing the South Korean duo, which was ranked No. 12. Later on Saturday, Prannoy HS will compete against Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the men’s semifinals. Beginning on June 13 and ending on Sunday is the Indonesia Open.
Earlier, the Indian men’s doubles pair registered an outstanding straight-game win over the top seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Rian Ardianto in the men’s doubles event on Friday. The sixth-seeded duo of Satwik and Chirag produced a flawless performance to dominate Indonesia’s Alfian and Adrianto 21-13 21-13 and clinch a spot in the semifinals in 41 minutes.
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