Badminton
Satwik, Chirag beat top seeds to reach French Open semis
Men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the only Indians left standing at the French Open, have reached the last four stage.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty with coach Mathias Boe (Screenshot)
Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty stunned top seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan in straight games to enter the semifinals of the French Open badminton tournament on Friday.
This will be the third semis appearance at the French Open for the Indian duo. It was at the 2019 French Open that Satwik and Chirag beat three of the top seeds on their way to the final.
Now into the semis, the men's doubles duo are the last Indians left standing at the French Open.
Seeded seventh in the Super 750 event, Rankireddy and Shetty won 21-12 21-16 in a quarterfinal match that lasted 49 minutes.
The Indian duo will face the Korean pair of Choi Sol Gyu and Kim Won Ho in the semifinals.
Rankireddy and Shetty are the only Indians left in the fray in the tournament. Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy and Sameer Verma lost in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals on Thursday.
(With PTI inputs)
