While India's top hope in women's singles, P.V Sindhu made a premature exit, the men's doubles combine of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty kept the Tricolour fluttering by reaching the semifinals of the India Open BWF Super 750 event here on Friday.
Among the other top players in the fray, last edition runners-up Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong had to save a match point in the decider against Toma Junior Popov before winning the one hour 16 minutes clash 14-21, 21-18, 22-20 to advance to the quarterfinals.
With star shuttler PV Sindhu and seasoned table tennis star Sharath Kamal as the flagbearers, the group of 78 India athletes and officials arrived in the Parade of Nations at the River Seine in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics 2024 on Friday.
World No. 15 Sindhu will train at the Hermann-Neuberger Sportschule in Saarbrucken for over a month with her coach and support staff before heading to Paris for the Summer Games.
Currently ranked 12th in the world, Sindhu, staged a dramatic rally to oust Tunjung, 8-21, 21-15, 21-13 in her round of 16 match at the BWF Super 750 tournament.
Fifth seed PV Sindhu chalked out an easy straight game win over compatriot Aakarshi Kashyap in the Australian Open Badminton.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and World no 9 HS Prannoy will lead the Indian challenge at Sudirman Cup to be played in Suzhou, China from May 14-21,
Treesa and Gayatri, who were the bronze medalist at the Commonwealth Games held previous year, breezed past Yeung Nga Ting and Yeung Pui Lam of Hong Kong at the Axiata Arena by 21-19, 21-14.
This will be Sindhu's third successive semifinal appearance after the French Open and Indonesia Masters
Sindhu is ranked seventh in the world while Busanan is 13th. The Indian started aggressively against the 25-year-old from Nonthaburi, Thailand.
