French Open badminton: Chirag-Satwik beat world champions to enter final
The Indians reached the final of their season-opening Malaysia Open but lost to the then-world No. 1 Chinese pair of Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang.
World no five pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy overpowered China’s He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu to storm into to the final of the China Masters badminton doubles event in Shenzhen on Saturday.
The Asian Games champions outpaced world No. 15 Ting, 18th ranked Yu 21-15, 22-20 in the semi-finals of the BWF Super 750 event.
Chirag and Satwiksairaj are now one step away from winning their fourth BWF title of this season. In the semi-final encounter Chirag and Satwiksairaj opened he match on an aggressive note and raced to an 11-6 at the mid-game interval.
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He Ji Ting and Ren Xiang Yu fought back with quicker returns after the break and reduced the deficit to two points at 12-10. However, the Indians aintained their composure to win the next six points and take the game from there for a 1-0 lead.
The Chinese ed 10-6 in the second game but Chirag and Satwiksairaj clawed back to level at 13-13 and came within touching distance at 19-17. The Indian then thwarted a late comeback and won the match on their second match point.
Chirag and Satwiksairak ill take on the winner of the semi-final match between Chinese pairs Chen Bo Yang-Liu Yi and Liang Wei Keng-Wang Chang in the final on Sunday. Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi are world No. 31 while Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang are world No. 1.
This year the Indian duo has so far won the Swiss Open in March, the Indonesia Open in June and the Korea Open in July. They also made history by winning Country’s first gold medal in badminton at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last month and in April, won the Badminton Asia Championships.
Results at China Masters will count towards players’ qualifying rankings for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The qualification window for badminton started on May 1 this year and will end in April .
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