Korea open : K-pop stars

Yeosu (South Korea), July 23

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their dream run, clinching the men’s doubles title at the Korea Open with a gritty three-game win over world No. 1 Fajar Alfian and Muhamad Rian Ardianto in the final here today.

Playing their fourth final of the year, the world No. 3 Indians rallied their way to a 17-21 21-13 21-14 win over the two-time World Championships bronze medallists in a thrilling summit clash of the Super 500 badminton tournament.

“We didn’t start off that well but happy that we could win that second game and keep the momentum until the very end. Extremely happy that we could win consecutive titles after the Indonesia Open,” Shetty said.

The reigning Commonwealth Games champions thus extended their winning streak to 10 matches. It was another feather in their cap, following their victories at the Swiss Open, Asian Championships and Indonesia Open.

“It’s been pretty good week for us,” Rankireddy said. “We played some amazing badminton throughout the week here and I am happy with the performance today. We want to continue with the same momentum next week at the Japan Open. We’ll go back now, rest and focus again,” he added.

The Indian pair had a 2-2 head-to-head count against the Asian Games silver medallists but had beaten the Indonesians on the last two occasions.

The Indians looked a little subdued in the beginning as they trailed in the opening game but they recovered near the end, narrowing a 10-19 deficit with a six-point burst before falling short.

However, they found the momentum in the second game and dominated the proceedings thereafter to come up trumps.

Meanwhile, Anders Antonsen, the unseeded Dane, captured his first title in over two years after beating fourth seed Loh Kean Yew of Singapore 11-21 21-11 21-19 in the men’s singles final.

In women’s singles, second seed An Se Young provided a treat for home fans with a ruthless 21-9 21-15 result over Tai Tzu Ying to claim her sixth title this year.