New Delhi, January 17, 2024: Asian Games gold medallists Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy secured a hard-fought 21-15, 19-21, 21-16 victory over Chinese Taipei’s Fang-Chih Lee and Fang-Jen Lee to advance to the second round of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Super 750, organised by Badminton Association of India, at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.
The second seeds, who finished runners up in the Malaysia Open Super 1000 last week, were quick off the blocks and pocketed the opening game rather easily. But their opponents managed to break the Indian pairs rhythm in the second game and took a 11-5 lead at the break.
Though Chirag and Satwik managed a late fight back and reduced the deficit to 18-19, the Taipei combination kept their cool to force a decider. In the final game, the Indian duo once again took control of the rallies with their attacking strokes to set up a second-round clash against the winner of the match between England’s Ben Lane/Sean Vendy and Chiense Taipei’s Lu Ching Yao and Yang Po Han.
“We are really happy with the way we are playing and the way we have started. We have worked a lot on our defence over the past two years and it has brought a new facet in our armor because you can’t always rely on your attack in these slow conditions. We are happy to get that first win here and hopefully, we go deep into the tournament,” stated Satwiksairaj Rankireddy following their victory.
Earlier, India’s 2021 World Championships silver medallist Kidambi Srikanth endured a 22-24, 13-21 defeat against Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk Yiu in the men’s singles opening round.
Srikanth began strong in the opening game and looked in control till the business end when Lee took a 20-17 lead. The Indian saved a total of four game points and earned a game point of his own before the Hong Kong shuttler pocketed the game.
Lee was dominant from the start in the second game and wrapped up the match in 47 minutes to set up a second-round clash against defending champion and seventh seed Kunluvat Vitidsarn, who defeated Denmark’s Magnus Johannesen 21-12, 21-16.
Elsewhere, the men’s doubles combination of Krishna Prasad Garaga and K Sai Pratheek lost 14-21, 11-21 against Japan’s Kenya Mitsuhashi and Hiroki Okamura.
India’s challenge ended in women’s doubles after both Ashwini Ponnappa/Tanisha Crasto and Ashwini Bhat/Shikha Gautam suffered defeats.
Ashwini-Tanisha went down 5-21, 21-18, 11-21 against Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai of Thailand while Ashwini-Shikha lost 13-21, 3-21 against three-time World Championships medallists Kim So-Yeong and Kong Hee-Yong of South Korea.
In women’s singles, defending champion An Se-Young of South Korea had to work hard for her 14-21, 21-11, 21-11 victory against three-time India Open champion Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand. Two-time former World Champion Akane Yamaguchi of Japan defeated Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark 26-24, 21-13.
Indonesia’s men’s singles shuttlers had a good day with the 2018 Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie defeating Hong Kong’s Angus NG Ka Long 21-13, 21-7 while Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Anthony Ginting secured a closely contested 16-21, 23-21, 21-17 victory over Kanta Tsuneyama.
Earlier in the day, top seeds Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China sealed a 21-18, 21-18 victory against Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan of Chinese Taipei.
The tournament will be broadcast on Eurosport and Jio Cinema and badminton lovers can enjoy watching the action on all six days as BAI has decided to keep the entry for the tournament for free.
