Singapore Open: Satwik-Chirag in quarters; Prannoy, Sindhu bow out

The Indian men’s doubles team of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty entered the quarterfinals, while former world champion PV Sindhu suffered an early exit in the Singapore Open badminton tournament here on Thursday.

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Satwiksairaj and Chirag rallied to beat seventh-seeded Indonesian duo of Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani 19-21 21-16 21-19 in a gruelling contest that lasted one hour and 14 minutes.

They will face the second seeded Malaysian team of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin in the next round.

It was a commendable performance by the Indian duo, which is making a comeback after battling fitness issues for the last few weeks.

Double Olympic medallist Sindhu went down to world No. 5 Chen Yufei of China 9-21, 21-18, 16-21 in 65 minutes in a hard-fought second-round match.

Sindhu, who recently slipped to world No. 17, showed glimpses of her old form, especially in the second game where she led 19-12 before closing it out 21-18.

However, the decider saw her struggle to match Chen’s sharp smashes and court control.

It was Sindhu’s seventh loss to Chen in 13 meetings, highlighting her inconsistency this season.

Despite a dominant 21-14, 21-9 win over Canada’s Wen Yu Zhang in the opening round, the 2022 Singapore Open champion failed to build momentum.

While Sindhu sparkled in patches, her sluggish reflexes and lack of control in rallies allowed the Chinese star to dictate terms in the final set.

There was disappointment for India in the men’s singles competition as H S Prannoy bowed out following a 16-21 14-21 loss to Frenchman Christo Popov in the pre-quarterfinals.

The eighth seeded Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also bowed out after losing 8-21 10-21 to Chinese combination of Jia Yi Fan and Zhang Shu Xian in the second round.

The mixed doubles combo of Rohan Kapoor and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde couldn’t get past Hong Kong’s Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet, losing 10-21 16-21 in 31 minutes.