India’s star men’s doubles badminton team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty moved to the quarterfinal of the Korea Open Super 500 on Thursday, at the end of what had been a rough day for the Indian contingent.
The duo, seeded third, scored a 21-17, 21-15 win over Chinese pair of He Ji Ting and Zhaou Hao Dong in a 43 minute-match. This proved to the be only win of the day among the Indian contingent present in Yeosu, South Korea.
The opening exchanges in the first game was a rather tight affair as both teams stayed close to each other. However, at 13-13, the Indians took a lead and steadily started to build on it before taking the opening game.
Riding on that momentum, they took an early lead to go up 3-1 and did not relinquish that lead before winning the second game 21-15 to secure the tie.
They’re now the only Indians left active in the tournament.
In the first match of the day featuring an Indian player, fifth seed men’s singles player HS Prannoy lost in straight-games to Lee Cheuk Yiu of Hong Kong, losing a tight, 66 minute-long match 15-21, 21-19, 18-21.
The women’s doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly were the next to exit after losing 11-21, 4-21 to second seeds Baek Ha Na and Lee So Hee of South Korea.
Priyanshu Rajawat did put up a strong showing against top seed from Japan Kodai Naraoka, but lost 14-21, 21-18, 17-21 in another tight contest that lasted an hour and 22 minutes.
Later, Rohan Kapoor and N Sikki Reddy lost the mixed doubles Round of 16 tie to fourth seeded Chinese pair Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dong Ping 15-21, 12-21.
As it stands, Rankireddy and Shetty are the only Indians left active in the contest. They will be playing later today.
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