Badminton Asia C’ships blog: Satwik-Chirag defeat Ahsan-Setiawan to reach semifinal, assured medal

That will be all for the blog. The semifinals are set in Dubai and this is how men’s doubles looks. Can Satwik-Chirag make it to the final? Join us tomorrow. The match will be around 730 pm IST.

Post-match reaction of Satwiksairaj:

“Playing against senior players like them, there is no strategy. They can come back at any time; they have that mindset. So from starting onwards, we didn’t take it as pressure and we tried to enjoy every point.”

“They are like idols. We have been following them since young age. When we took our racquets, they were already All England champions and world champions. So, we know how they play. But going into the match, we had a strategy with our coach and focus on the service receiving, they are very strong at it. After injury, the way we are playing it’s a good sign for us.”

Post-match reaction of Chirag Shetty:

“The job is still not done. We played some really good badminton today.”

— via BAI

REPLUG: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty get busy on path to stardom

Men’s doubles: Ah the good old enigma that is Satwik-Chirag vs Lee-Wang next up in the semifinals. The Indians defeated them at Olympics in the group stage, and the TPE pair went on to win gold later while SatChi bowed out before knockouts. The TPE pair then defeated SatChi at Thomas Cup group stages, and the IND pair of course won gold later on.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 21-11, 21-12 Ahsan / Setiawan: Without reading too much into the scoreline, because I doubt the Indonesians were anywhere near full fitness, that is another memorable tournament for the “crown jewels of Indian badminton”

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 21-11, 21-12 Ahsan / Setiawan: THERE IT IS! Another first for the Indians. A first medal assured at the Asian Championships.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 21-11, 19-12 Ahsan / Setiawan: A little bit of an exhibition match feel to this at the moment. Some fancy shot.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 21-11, 15-9 Ahsan / Setiawan: The Indians look all set to close this out. Ahsan is not really moving too much at the moment.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 21-11, 11-8 Ahsan / Setiawan: The only reason we are close is because we are being sloppy at times, is the verdict from Mathias Boe as the Indians take a lead into the interval.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 21-11, 8-8 Ahsan / Setiawan: Lovely winner through the middle and the Indians are back level.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 21-11, 3-5 Ahsan / Setiawan: Chirag with a couple of racket strings broken already in this game. A couple of misses at the net. Good phase for the Daddies.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 21-11, 3-1 Ahsan / Setiawan: Terrific whipped third-shot winner from Chirag followed by a quick point by Satwik.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 21-11 Ahsan / Setiawan: The Indians control the tempo in most of the opening game to take the lead in this quarterfinal.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 21-11 Ahsan / Setiawan: Game points aplenty for the Indians and they convert their first. Have to thing the Daddies are not their physical best. (if that is even possible these days)

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 18-10 Ahsan / Setiawan: Chirag loses his footing at the front court but still keeps his balance to win a good point.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 17-9 Ahsan / Setiawan: Satwik is dominating whenever he gets the height. And the Daddies are giving them the lifts too more often than usual.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 11-8 Ahsan / Setiawan: The Indians have the obvious power advantage and it is showing in this early phase.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 9-8 Ahsan / Setiawan: Superb effort from Ahsan to dive and get the shuttle. but Chirag kills the point.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 7-6 Ahsan / Setiawan: Lovely crosscourt winner by Setiawan. Genius.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 5-5 Ahsan / Setiawan: Level in no time.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag 5-3 Ahsan / Setiawan: And the Indians get the service error out of the way nice and early hopefully. But otherwise a solid start by the Indians.

MD QF, Satwik / Chirag vs Ahsan / Setiawan: Don’t expect this to be long. Will be fast and furious

MD QF, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty vs Mohammad Ahsan /Hendra Setiawan: It’s 6th seeds vs 3rd seeds. SatChi vs their idols. This is on the TV Court.

From India Open 2022: “Coming into our home tournament and winning a title, it really couldn’t have gone any better,” Chirag said. “The other positive is that we defeated our idols and won the match playing out of our comfort zone. We won it by the way we usually don’t play. Our past success has been built on our strength which is our attack, but this time we won it on our defence. That’s one big takeaway.”

Of friends, idols and titles: Lakshya Sen, Satwik-Chirag make it a memorable India Open for India

The defending champion in WS has been defeated by the world No 1. It is time for SatChi vs Daddies.

WS QF: That comeback to win the first game was really good from Sindhu. Hopefully she can take the positives from there. The gap is still there but that’s once again some of the best badminton she has played this year. Second game, ASY seems to have just upped the pace by a few notches and errors flew early on from Sindhu’s racket too. Tough to recover from that 5-21.

Highlights of PV Sindhu vs An Se Young:

Satwik-Chirag in action after this rematch of last year’s WS final

MS QF, HS Prannoy 11-21, 9-13 (retd) Kanta Tsuneyama: With Gayatri-Treesa withdrawing earlier this week and now Prannoy retiring mid-match, two of India’s first-choice matches at the Sudirman Cup are a concern. We await more on Prannoy’s withdrawal.

MS QF, HS Prannoy 11-21, 9-13 (retd) Kanta Tsuneyama: HS Prannoy has retired from his match at 9-13 in the 2nd game. That 21-11 in the opening game was a sign I guess. Hope it is nothing serious! A second retirement this week from India’s Sudirman Cup squad.

MS QF, HS Prannoy 11-21, 9-13 Kanta Tsuneyama: Four points is not the toughest of leads to overturn, Prannoy would need a run of points here.

MS QF, HS Prannoy 11-21, 8-11 Kanta Tsuneyama: Some hint of a fightback.

MS QF, HS Prannoy 11-21, 5-11 Kanta Tsuneyama: Some comeback it will be, if Prannoy can take this to a decider too.

MS QF, HS Prannoy 11-21, 3-10 Kanta Tsuneyama: Seems to be heading only way, this one.

MS QF, HS Prannoy 11-21, 2-7 Kanta Tsuneyama: That is another strong start by Kanta.

MS QF, HS Prannoy 11-21 Kanta Tsuneyama: On a run of 6 straight points (and 8 out of 9), Kanta takes the opening game. Can HSP come back from this?

MS QF, HS Prannoy 11-16 Kanta Tsuneyama: A run 5 out of 6 points for Kanta just when Prannoy closed the gap.

MS QF, HS Prannoy 11-16 Kanta Tsuneyama: And Kanta moves ahead by 5 again.

MS QF, HS Prannoy 10-13 Kanta Tsuneyama: Prannoy closes the gap down to three.

MS QF, HS Prannoy 6-11 Kanta Tsuneyama: A 5-point lead for Kanta at the interval

MS QF, HS Prannoy 6-10 Kanta Tsuneyama: Kanta staying ahead in this one.

MS QF, HS Prannoy 2-7 Kanta Tsuneyama: Given there is not much else to do but track scores, here’s an interview from our archive on Prannoy’s 2018 bronze at this event. A pivotal point in his career.

‘A moment to cherish for a long time’: Prannoy happy with Asian C’ships bronze after CWG disaster

MS QF, HS Prannoy 1-6 Kanta Tsuneyama: Kanta off to a great start.

MS QF, HS Prannoy vs Kanta Tsuneyama: Prannoy leads the H2H 3-2.

Now to do the same for HSP.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 9-21 An Se Young: ASY wins.Sindhu takes her first ever game against An Se Young, but in response, An Se Young hands Sindhu her two lowest tallies in a game between them. Not much else to say without watching the match.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 9-21 An Se Young: ASY wins. Sindhu started well but An Se Young takes the second two games in evidently dominant fashion. The Korean now leads 6-0 against Sindhu.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 9-19 An Se Young: Sindhu hasn’t been able to win more than 2 straight points.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 8-18 An Se Young: Sindhu all but out of this.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 8-16 An Se Young: Seems like the end is in sight for ASY.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 6-11 An Se Young: Sindhu too is a momentum player, so on the flip side, we don’t typically see her make these huge comebacks. Let’s see if she can change the script here.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 6-11 An Se Young: Sindhu has a mountain to climb. Big lead for ASY at the final change of ends.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 5-10 An Se Young: Sindhu matches her 2nd game tally.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 3-9 An Se Young: Slipping away from Sindhu.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 3-8 An Se Young: Not ideal for Sindhu, a big lead to fight back against a momentum player like ASY.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 3-6 An Se Young: ASY staying ahead.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 2-4 An Se Young: OK must have been a scoreboard glitch. An into an early lead.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21, 0-0 An Se Young: Seems to be a longer than usual delay between games.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21 An Se Young: Prannoy too dropped the 2nd game 21-5 last night before recovering for the decider. Sindhu definitely needs a good start here.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-21 An Se Young: That’s one way to respond by the world No 2. An Se Young takes the 2nd game 21-5 against PV Sindhu!

We have a decider.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 5-20 An Se Young: Fistful of game points.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 4-18 An Se Young: From her best game result against ASY, Sindhu is now heading for the worst. Never lost a game in single digits. Seems imminent.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 4-15 An Se Young: This seems to be one-way traffic at the moment.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 3-11 An Se Young: That is some response from the Korean.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18, 2-9 An Se Young: and a super start for An in the second game.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18 An Se Young: Here’s how game 1 unfolded (on paper)

WS QF, PV Sindhu 21-18 An Se Young: For the first time in their meetings, PV Sindhu takes a game against An Se Young !

WS QF, PV Sindhu 17-17 An Se Young: That’s Sindhu’s joint-best game tally vs ASY.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 15-16 An Se Young: The crowd reaction from the TV Court seems to be a decent indication of how Sindhu vs ASY is going. The Indian seems to definitely have more support. She closes the gap down again.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 13-16 An Se Young: An starting to pull away again.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 13-14 An Se Young: And Sindhu levels it up at 13-13 but ASY moves back ahead.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 12-13 An Se Young: A point in it.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 11-13 An Se Young: Sindhu staying within touching distance.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 8-11 An Se Young: Sindhu lead 5-1 but An goes on a run to take a 11-8 lead into the interval.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 7-7 An Se Young: The match is streaky so far on the scoreboard. 5-1 Sindhu then 5-5. Now 7-7.

WS QF, PV Sindhu 3-1 An Se Young: The match is underway.

WS QF, PV Sindhu vs An Se Young: Here’s a look at the head-to-head. ASY has won all five matches, all in straight games.

It’s time for PV Sindhu vs An Se Young.

As we wait for Sindhu’s match, a not-so-pleasant throwback to last year’s semifinal that she lost:

Watch: ‘Very unfair’ – Sindhu frustrated by umpiring decision during Asia C’ships semifinal defeat

WS QF: When Tai Tzu Ying is on her game, nothing like it. When Tai Tzu Ying is off her game, nothing like it. She just lost 11 straight points against He Bing Jiao.

5.25 pm: Sindhu will be in action after this match.

XD QF, Ferdinansyah / Widjaja 21-18, 19-21, 21-15 Rohan / Sikki: And after being neck-and-neck for so long, the Indonesians pull ahead with 6 straight points.

XD QF, Ferdinansyah / Widjaja 21-18, 19-21, 18-15 Rohan / Sikki: The Indonesians are just starting to pull ahead.

XD QF, Ferdinansyah / Widjaja 21-18, 19-21, 13-13 Rohan / Sikki: Absolutely nothing to separate the two pairs at the end.

XD QF, Ferdinansyah / Widjaja 21-18, 19-21 Rohan / Sikki: 11-10 in Game 1 interval, 11-10 in Game 2 interval, 11-10 in Game 3 interval

XD QF, Ferdinansyah / Widjaja 21-18, 19-21 Rohan / Sikki: Whoa, the Indians have taken the 2nd game and forced the decider against the fancied Indonesian pair.

XD QF, Ferdinansyah / Widjaja vs Rohan / Sikki: A game point for the Indians!

XD QF, Ferdinansyah / Widjaja vs Rohan / Sikki: Again just the smallest possible lead at the interval for the Indonesians.

XD QF, Ferdinansyah / Widjaja vs Rohan / Sikki: Good fight evidently by the Indian duo but the world No 19 pair take the lead.

XD QF, Ferdinansyah / Widjaja vs Rohan / Sikki: Oh a good start to the Indian qualifier pair. Just a 1-point lead for the Indonesians at the interval.

XD QF, Ferdinansyah / Widjaja vs Rohan / Sikki: The match is underway and a decent start for Indians.

3.45 pm: So first things first, only Court 1 is available to be officially watched for those of us not in Dubai at the arena. Which means, we are likely dependent on only the scoring details for the three matches, including the two big singles clashes featuring Sindhu and Prannoy.

Quarterfinal details:

Court 1: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy / Chirag Shetty vs Mohammad Ahsan /Hendra Setiawan

Court 2: Dejan Ferdinansyah / Gloria Emanuelle Widjaja vs Rohan Kapoor / Reddy Sikki

Court 2: PV Sindhu vs An Se Young 

Court 2: Prannoy HS vs  Kanta Tsuneyama

Hello and welcome to Scroll’s badminton coverage. Today we will be tracking (in case of three out of the four matches quite literally) scores from quarterfinals featuring Indians at the Badminton Asia Championships.

First up, here’s yesterday’s round-up.

Badminton Asia C’ships: Sindhu’s attacking play shines against Yue; Prannoy, Satwik-Chirag win too