Badminton
Malaysia Open 2022: Why did Satwik-Chirag give a walkover in the pre-quarterfinal?
With Satwik-Chirag giving a walkover in their second-round match, only Sindhu and Prannoy remain from India at the ongoing Malaysia Open 2022.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (Source: BAI)
After a power-packed opening round clash where the star Indian badminton men's doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty saw off the Malaysian pair of Man Wei Chong and Kai Wun Tee, 21-18, 21-11, the seventh-seeded Indian pair decided to give a walkover in the second round of the Malaysia Open 2022.
The World No. 8 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were slated to take on the Malaysian duo of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin for a place in the quarterfinals of the Super 750 tournament. However, in the very eleventh hour, Satwik-Chirag gave a walkover to the lower-ranked Malaysian pair and exited the tournament, owing to Satwik's injury issues.
Satwik-Chirag had met the duo of Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin at the Thomas Cup last where the Indian pair recorded a fantastic straight games victory against them, 21-19, 21-15, as well. Overall, Satwik-Chirag leads 6-1 in the head-to-head meetings between the two.
"Satwik pulled a muscle in his core. He was better today but not enough to play and with CWG around, the coaches and physios advised him to not play."
A few injuries have been niggling Satwik ever since the conclusion of the high-octane Thomas Cup outing where India won gold and the pair of Satwik-Chirag played a key role in the victory. In fact, the young pair also sat out the Indonesia Masters and Indonesia Open tournaments earlier this month, to take care of the injury and to preserve the body.
With Satwik-Chirag also out of the Malaysia Open 2022 now, only two Indian shuttlers remain in the fray - PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy. While Sindhu had to tame Phittayaporn Chaiwan, 19-21, 21-9, 21-14, HS Prannoy was at his dominant best as he upset World No. 4 Chinese Taipei shuttler Chou Tien Chen, 21-15, 21-7 to enter the quarterfinals.
Earlier in the day, Parupalli Kashyap lost his second-round clash to Thai sensation Kunlavut Vitidsarn, despite putting up a solid fight in the first set, 21-19, 21-10.
With the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games less than a month away, we hope India's dynamic doubles duo of Satwik-Chirag get well soon and come back to the court and get back to their winning ways.
