Hong Kong Open: Satwiksairaj-Chirag make it to semifinals

Hong Kong, September 12 (ANI): The popular Indian men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made it to the semifinals of the ongoing Hong Kong Open tournament on Friday.

Satwik and Chirag earned their spot in the final four with a win over Malaysia's Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap in an exciting three-game contest, as per a Badminton Association of India (BAI) Media press note.

The Indians took the opening game 21-14 against Malaysia's Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap, before narrowly conceding the second 20-22. They bounced back in the decider, sealing it 21-16 to book their semifinal berth.

The duo will next face Chen Cheng Kuan and Lin Bing-Wei of Chinese Taipei.

In the men's doubles pre-quarterfinals, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also rallied from a game down to beat Thailand's Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul 18-21, 21-15, 21-11 in an hour and three minutes.

Earlier, the Indian Paris Olympics semifinalist, Lakshya Sen, also made it to the quarterfinals on Thursday.

India's top-ranked singles player and world No. 20 Lakshya Sen beat HS Prannoy, 34th in the men's singles badminton rankings, 15-21, 21-18, 21-10 in an hour and eight minutes, as reported by Olympics.com.Competing at the Hong Kong Coliseum, Lakshya Sen made a sluggish start, allowing HS Prannoy to dictate terms and pocket the opening game.

Lakshya, the Paris 2024 semi-finalist, began the second game slowly too, trailing 11-9 at the break before clawing back to 13-all.

Though Prannoy edged ahead at 18-17 again, Lakshya earned four straight points to snatch the game and force a decider.

The decider followed a familiar script with Lakshya Sen starting cautiously before finding his rhythm to lead 11-8 at the interval. He then conceded only two more points en route to wrapping up the match with ease and earning his sixth win in nine meetings against Prannoy. (ANI)

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