Badminton
Malaysia Open: Satwik/Chirag, Tanisha/Ashwini move to quarter-finals
Indian singles challenge at Malaysia Open 2024 ended as Kidambi Srikanth lost in straight sets against Ng Ka Long Angus.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (Source: BWF)
Ashwini Ponnappa and Tanisha Crasto defeated the world number nine pair of Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty got better of the French pair to move to the quarter-finals of the Malaysia Open 2024 on Thursday.
Starting the day with a win, Ashwini and Tanisha left no stone unturned to get better of the high-ranked pair. The duo won 21-19, 13-21, 21-15 to march into the quarter-finals convincingly.
In men's doubles, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty continued their impressive run to advance to the men's doubles quarterfinals by defeating France's Lucas Corvee and Ronan Labar 21-11, 21-18 in straight games.
However, Kidambi Srikanth failed to control his errors and wrong judgement to lose in the men's singles match against Ng Ka Long Angus of Hong Kong.
Satwik and Chirag, the Asian Games gold medallists, dished out an aggressive game to gallop to 11-2 lead at the break in the opening game. A seven-point burst after resumption gave the French pair hope as they made it 12-14.
But the Indian combination soon found their bearing to run away with the opening game after gathering the remaining seven points on the trot.
The Indians, however, wouldn't have been prepared for what came next as Corvee and Labar came out blazing on all cylinders to take an 11-4 cushion in the interval.
From 4-11, Satwik and Chirag, however, made it 16-16 with Chirag and Satwik once again scripting a remarkable recovery.
Once the French went long, the Indians had the advantage. Labar pounced on a weak return to keep themselves in the hunt. A deception from Chirag, followed by a flat exchange, gave India three match points. They squandered one before Labar served into the net.
In the men's singles, Kidambi Srikanth succumbed to his poor judgement and unforced errors and despite leading 7-2 in the first game lost to the world number 20 Ka Long Angus.
The Hong Kong player, who had come into the match after losing twice to the Indians in the the last two meetings, gained confidence, and another six-point burst put him in command as Srikanth crumbled.
Despite playing well in the second game, Srikanth crumbled under pressure to squander the match against Ka Angus ending India's challenge in men's singles as HS Prannoy and Lakshya Sen exited in the first round.
