Badminton Asia Championships: Satwik-Chirag, Ishaan-Tanisha begin with emphatic wins

Indian shuttlers began their campaign at the Badminton Asia Championships in Manila, Philippines with a slew of doubles matches where the World No. 7 men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty exacted a dominant win to progress into the next round.

On the other hand, the up and coming mixed doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto also produced a solid performance and booked their tickets for the second round at the individual continental championships, which is making a return after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

Playing after the Korea Open, the dynamic duo of Satwik-Chirag went up against the Thai pair of Apiluk Gaterahong and Natchanon Tulamok in the first-round clash and got their win in straight sets, 21-13, 21-9.

Barely wasting any time, Satwik-Chirag, fresh off a week-long practice session with re-appointed former coach Mathias Boe at Mumbai, looked sharp and needed only 27 minutes to dispose of their opponents in the Round of 32 clash.

Meanwhile, the mixed doubles pair of Ishaan Bhatnagar and Tanisha Crasto, after having slogged it out at the BAI Selection Trials last week, continued their good form as they defeated Hong Kong's Law Cheuk Him and Yeung Nga Ting in a 30-minute intense affair, 21-15, 21-17 to sail into the Round of 16.

However, the only upset of the day has come from the pair of Krishna Prasad Garaga and Vishnuvardhan Goud Panjala who lost a closely-contested match to the 2019 Asia Championships bronze medallist duo of Kang Minhyuk and Kim Wonho from Korea, losing 10-21, 21-19, 16-21.

Further, in the day's order of business, two more doubles matches remain with the pair of MR Arjun-Dhruv Kapila and the mixed pair of Venkat Gaurav Prasad and Juhi Dewanagan slated to happen soon. However, both have been handed difficult opponents, making their job to cross the hurdle all the more difficult.

While MR Arjun and Dhruv Kapila will go up against fourth-seeds Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto, Venkat and Juhi will have to face a stiff challenge from veterans Praveen Jordan and Melati Oktavianti, also the fourth-seeds at the continental championships.