Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty of India put up a strong performance to defeat second-seeded Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen of Denmark and advance to the semifinals of the China Masters Super 750 badminton competition on Friday. Satwik and Chirag, who had reached the finals in the previous event, defeated the World No. 2 pair in 47 minutes while playing their first competition since the Paris Olympics.
The Asian Games gold medalists will meet either eighth-seeded Japanese Takuro Hoki and Yugo Nakajima or Korea’s Jin Yong and Moon Seung Jae in the final four. In the first game, the Indians appeared to be in fine shape, leading 11-8 at halftime and increasing their lead to 16-10 with a flurry of fast-paced angled returns that dominated the rallies.
Satwik and Chirag maintained a tight hold on the rallies to retain their lead, scoring six game points. Rasmussen’s big smash and Chirag’s net blunder delayed the inevitable until the former smacked one wide, handing the Indians the opening game.
The second game was more contested, with the Danes dominating the flat exchanges to pull ahead 7-5 after the first duel. Satwik was penalized for a service fault at 8-8, but the Indians held an 11-10 lead at the break. After a close battle, Satwik-Chirag led 16-15 until the opponents closed to 17-16.
However, Astrup slammed into the net again, giving the Indians a 19-18 advantage. Chirag’s well-placed push near the backline brought them within one point, and Satwik sealed the deal with a smash.
India, on the other hand, had a mixed day at the BWF World Tour Super 750 tournament, as the men’s singles campaign came to an end with Lakshya Sen losing in straight games in the quarterfinals to Danish third seed Anders Antonsen.
Ka hoya