Hong Kong Open: Satwiksairaj-Chirag march to first finals of 2025

Hong Kong, September 13 (ANI): India's popular men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the finals of the ongoing Hong Kong Open badminton tournament on Saturday.

Satwik and Chirag managed their first-ever appearance in the final for this year, defeating Chinese Taipei duo of 21-17, 21-15 in just 38 minutes.

India's two-time world championship medalists duo will now face sixth seeds Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China in the finale, as per a Badminton Association of India (BAI) press note.

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. 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.

Satwik and Chirag had to settle for a bronze medal in the World Championships following a heartbreaking loss to China's Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi in the semifinals by 19-21, 21-18, 12-21 back in August. The first two games remained a closely knitted affair, but the Chinese pair ran rampant, dominating the Indian duo in the decider. This marked the pair's second World Championships medal, after a bronze medal back in 2022 at Tokyo.

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)

(This content is sourced from a syndicated feed and is published as received. The Tribune assumes no responsibility or liability for its accuracy, completeness, or content.)