Singapore Badminton Open 2025: Satwik, Chirag bamboozle world number one pair to book semi-final berth
Singapore City [Singapore], May 30 (ANI): India's Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the semi-finals after defying the odds and trouncing the world No. 1 Malaysian pair of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin on Friday in the Singapore Badminton Open 2025.
Satwik and Chirag, ranked 27th, breezed past the world number one pair in straight sets after staging a 21-17, 21-15 win in a 39-minute fixture. In the first game, Satwin and Chirag raced to an 11-8 lead at the interval and continued to build on it to take a 1-0 lead.
In the second game, the Indian pair trailed by 6-5 early but soon seized control by exploiting the Malaysian pair to convincingly win the second game and the quarter-final clash. The victory marked the fourth win for Satwik and Chirag in six clashes against Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin.
They will look to keep India's challenge alive by conquering the two-time Olympic bronze medallists and third-seeded Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik of Malaysia in the semi-final.
Earlier in the tournament, Satwik and Chirag announced their return to the court on a triumphant note after a two-month-long injury layoff due to illness and injury. Ranked 27th in the men's doubles rankings, the Indian duo was hammered in the opening game but bounced back flawlessly to outgun the Indonesian pair of Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Muhammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani.
In the quarter-finals, the top Indian duo defeated the world number eight pair of Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Muhammad Reza Pahlevi Isfahani in a remarkable match which saw them come back from being down 19-21 in the first game to win the next two closely contested games by 21-16, 21-19
Meanwhile, India's star shuttlers PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy were overwhelmed in their respective contests and crashed out of the second round. Sindhu, who broke the opening round exit jinx to qualify for the second round, was ousted by Olympic gold medallist Chen Yufei of the People's Republic of China by 21-9, 18-21, 21-16 in a fixture that lasted an hour and five minutes.
The 17th-ranked Indian shuttler lost her mojo and struggled to find her groove in the opening game. Chen, the fifth-ranked star, dominated the court and raced to a 21-9 win to take a 1-0 lead. Sindhu retaliated brilliantly in the second game to restore parity but eventually ran out of steam, which brought her campaign to a bitter end. The recent setback marked the seventh loss in 13 meetings for the 29-year-old against Chen Yufei.
Meanwhile, in the men's singles, Prannoy, the 34th-ranked Indian star, bowed out of the competition in straight sets with a 21-16, 21-14 defeat against world No. 23 Christo Popov of France. (ANI)
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