Hong Kong, Sept 11: India’s top men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the quarterfinals of the USD 500,000 Hong Kong Open Super 500 badminton tournament after edging out Thailand’s Peeratchai Sukphun and Pakkapon Teeraratsakul here on Thursday.
The former world number one duo, seeded eighth, bounced back from a first-game loss to outplay the unseeded Thai pair 18-21 21-15 21-11 in a 63-minute battle.
World no. 9 Satwik and Chirag, fresh from their second World Championships bronze in Paris, will next face Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Roy King Yap.
The Indian pair had a slow start, trailing 8-11 in the opening game as Sukphun and Teeraratsakul dominated. Although they fought back to 18-18, the Thai duo secured the final three points to claim the opener.
Stung by the setback, the Indians played with renewed intensity in the second game. After a tight tussle from 2-2 to 7-7, they grabbed an 11-10 lead at the mid-game break and steadily pulled ahead to take the match to the decider.
The third game was one-sided as Satwik and Chirag raced to a 7-2 lead and then surged further as the Thai pair faltered.
Later in the day, Lakshya Sen and HS Prannoy will clash in an all-Indian encounter, while women’s doubles pair of Rutaparna and Swetaparna Panda will take on fifth seeds Li Yi Jing and Luo Xu Min of China. (PTI)
