Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty came up with a dominant performance on January 17, Friday, to storm into the semifinals of the India Open Super 750 badminton tournament. Satwik and Chirag decimated the Korean pair of Jin Yong and Kang Min Hyuk with a number of attacking shots to secure a 21-10, 21-17 win in 41 minutes.
The men’s doubles quarterfinal began with an intense rally, but Satwik and Chirag attacked relentlessly to take an 11-3 lead at the break. Jin and Kang tried to change their tactics, but the Indian duo were unstoppable and raced to an 18-8 lead before Satwik-Chirag won the first game 21-10.
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The Korean duo started the second game on a bright note and took a 4-3 lead. However, Satwik-Chirag came back strongly to take a 5 point lead at the interval. Jin Yong and Kang Min Hyuk then levelled the second game at 16-16 before the Indian duo earned the three match points.
With this win, the Indian duo have reached their third successive semi-final on the tour. Earlier, Satwik-Chirag had reached the semi-finals of the China Masters and Malaysia Super 1000 in 2024. Now the star Indian duo will take on the Malaysian pair of Sze Fei Goh and Nur Izzuddin in the last four.
“Right from the word go, we were all guns blazing. I think that’s what we wanted to do because once they were able to defend, if we are a bit slow, then they are able to capitalise on the opponent being a bit slow and try to manoeuvre the shuttle around,” Chirag said.
“We were pretty comfortable even though it was close. It was our mistakes we did in the last three points, so there was no tension. We are under control, we are telling like nothing to worry, just one point at a time. So we kept believing that and we are very positive from the start as well,” Satwik added.
Meanwhile, Kiran George and PV Sindhu crashed out of the ongoing 750 tournament after losses in their respective quarter-final matches. Kiran suffered a 13-21, 19-21 defeat to Hong Yang Weng of China, while Sindhu lost to Paris Games medallist Gregoria Tunjung.
In the men’s singles quarterfinals, Paris Olympics champion Viktor Axelsen secured a hard-fought 21-19, 13-21, 21-8 win over former world champion Loh Kean Yew.
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
