Badminton
French Open 2022: Satwik-Chirag reach quarters, Srikanth, Sameer, and Prannoy knocked out
Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, and Sameer Verma bowed out of French Open 2022 while the pair of Satwik-Chirag will play quarter-finals.
World no. 2 Indian men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty
Indian shuttlers endured a tough day at the ongoing French Open as all the singles shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth, Sameer Verma and HS Prannoy suffered defeats in their respective matches. The only shining light was Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty reaching the quarter-finals in men's doubles.
Kidambi lost 21-19 12-21 19-21 in the match against Rasmus Gemke of Denmark which lasted one hour and 15 minutes.
In the first game, Kidmabi made a remarkable fightback after trailing 10-16 as he won nine straight points to take a 19-16 lead before going 1-0 up.
The scores were levelled at 10-10 in the second game and Gemke won six straight points to zoom ahead and take the match to the decider.
The decider was a neck-to-neck affair before the Dane emerged victorious.
In the men's doubles, seventh-seeded Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat the Malaysian duo of Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee 21-16 21-14 in a round of 16 matches that lasted 40 minutes.
The Indians now run into the top-seeded Japanese pair of Takuro Hohi and Yugo Kobayashi in the quarterfinals.
Sameer Verma who defeated Anthony Ginting in the first round lost to Kunvalut Vitidsarn of Thailand in straight sets 21-18, 21-11.
HS Prannoy suffered another disappointing loss against Guang Zu Lu of China in a very close match 19-21, 22-20, 19-21.
(With Inputs from PTI)
