Paris: The star Indian pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Malaysia’s twice Olympic medalist Aaron Chia and Soh Wui Yik in the men’s doubles quarter -finals to ensure medals for India at the World Badminton Championships.
The Indian pair lost to the Malaysia pair at the Paris Olympics last year, but they managed to avenge it in the match played late Friday. Satvik and Chirag’s third-ranked pair entered the semi-finals by registering a stunning win 21-12 21-19 in 43 minutes.
Satvik and Chirag won a bronze medal in the tournament in 2022 and thus this would be the second medal in their World Championship. This also ensured India winning medals in each World Championship after winning the bronze medal of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa in 2011.
The next Asian Games champion will be against China’s 11th seeded pair Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi.
A few hours ago, India was deprived of a medal in women’s singles after PV Sindhu was out in the quarter -finals. When Satwik and Chirag landed on the court, the burden of expectations was clearly visible on them.
Chia and Soh defeated the Indian pair in Singapore and China this year after breaking the dream of winning the dream of winning the Olympic medal of Satwik and Chirag in Paris last year. However, Indian players were successful in revenge for this.
Chirag started with a drive-servant winner and then played a 59-shot rally which was the longest rally of the match. After this, he put India ahead 4-2 with his strong mid-court smash. The Indian pair took a 9-3 lead by scoring six consecutive points. She was ahead 11-5 till the interval. Chia and Soh succeeded in another marathon rally of 49 shots, but the Indians soon achieved the rhythm.
The Indian team started tightening the screws with a score of 15-8 and then easily won the first game.
With the help of Satvik’s fast service and Chirag’s sharp backcourt smash, the Indian pair also started well in the second game and soon took a 10-5 lead. Soh continued to make mistakes under pressure, due to which the Indian team took a 17-12 lead.
The Malaysia team then performed well and returned 12–17. On the basis of Chirag’s brilliant game, Indians scored 18-14.
This was followed by another long rally on a score of 15-19. The Malaysian team raised the difference to 18–19 due to good returns and then the smash of Satwik on the net. At such a time, Chirag took the front on the net and won the match point and won the Indian pair.
