Asian Games Badminton: Satwik-Chirag, Srikanth win in straight games, advance to next rounds

India has had a mixed day in the Asian Games badminton individual events on Monday at the BJ Gymnasium in Hangzhou. Highlights

Deliverying superlatives performances Kidambi Srikanth in men's singles and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in men's doubles won their matches in straight games to advance to the next rounds.

Srikanth, who lost a gruelling match in the men's team final overnight, put up a commendable show to win his Round of 64 match in 21-10, 21-9 in 29 minutes.

Satwik-Chirag did not face any difficulties either. In their Round of 32 match, the world no. 3 pair went up against Hong Kong's Chow Hin Long-Lui Chun Wai.

The Indians took the lead in the match quite comfortably with a 21-11 win in the first game. In the second game, Chow and Lui started off with a lead and broke away to a 6-5 lead over the Indians.

They would stay up in the fight the till 11-13 before Satwik-Chirag won a few points with net kills and smashes to extend their lead to 18-15 before sealing the match 21-16 in the second game. The final scores read 21-11, 21-16 for Satwik and Chirag as they advanced to Round of 16.

In mixed doubles, Krishna Prasad SP and Tanisha Crasto played with utter domination against Macao's Leong Iok Chong-Ng Weng Chi. Their depth placement and quick movement earned them winners in regular interval. The Indians would seal their place in the pre-quarterfinals with a 21-18, 21-14 in 37 minutes.

However, N. Sikki Reddy and Rohan Kapoor in mixed doubles, playing their first match in the Asian Games, pulled out of their Round of 32 match when Malaysia's Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie took a 2-0 lead in the first game.

MR Arjun, who gave the men's team final a miss on Sunday due to discomfort, paired up with Dhruv Kapila in their men's doubles Round of 32 match but gave walkover to Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi after trailing 3-13 in the first game.