Malaysia Open 2025: Satwik-Chirag storm into semi-finals

The Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty progressed to the semi-final of the 2025 Malaysia Open Super 1000 tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

They got better of the home pairing of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi 26-24, 21-15 in a contest which lasted 50 minutes. It was their sixth win against this pair in the tenth meeting.

Rankireddy and Shetty will mark their third consecutive semi-final appearance at the Malaysia Open when they will face the South Korean pair of Kim Ho Won and Seung Jae Seo on Saturday.

"Yeah, definitely a good start to the year. We are be hoping to go as deep as possible in this tournament," said Chirag in the mixed zone after the win.

A spirited performance against the home crowd

Although the match ended in straight games, the Malaysian pair took a big test of the fitness of Rankireddy and Shetty by extending the thrilling opening game to 50 points with support from their local fans.

The Indians started the opening game with a slight lead which they maintained throughout the end and were leading 19-16 but then the Malaysian pair forced a comeback.

Eventually, the Indians took the opening game but they had to save four game points in the process.

"The first game is always crucial with them and we saw that we were leading 19-16 in the opening game. Then they made a comeback and the crowd started cheering loudly for them," said Rankireddy.

The Malaysians started the second game with a positive mindset and led 11-8 at the mid-game interval.

However, the India pair showcased their class and comfortably took the second game by winning 13 points in comparison to five for their opponents, post the midgame interval to shut down the partisan crowd.

"These are the stadiums you want to play, in such a packed stadium, and as a professional badminton athlete it is one of the best stadiums to play," said Shetty.