The pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the finals of the Badminton Asia Championships in Dubai on Saturday after defeating reigning Olympic Champions Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin of Chinese Taipei in the men’s doubles.
Satwik-Chirag brushed aside the Taipei duo 21-18 in the first set and was trailing 14-13 in the second set when Chi-Lin injured himself while returning the shot.
The duo of Chi-Lin and Yang retired which resulted in Satwik-Chirag becoming the first Indians to reach the finals after 1965.
In the final on Sunday, they will meet the eighth-seeded Malaysian pair of Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, who overcame fourth seeds Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi of Japan 21-6 26-24 in the other semifinal.
Earlier, Rankireddy and Shetty advanced to the semifinals for the first time after defeating Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-11 21-12 in the quarterfinals on Friday. This will be India’s first continental men’s doubles medal in 52 years.
While, PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy both fell in the quarterfinals of their respective singles events.
Comments
SHARE