China Open: Satwik-Chirag pair bows out in the second round

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, ranked 15th in the world, went down to Japan’s Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 19-21, 8-21 in the second-round match that lasted 33 minutes.

Satwiksairaj Ranki Reddy and Chirag Shetty in action. (File Photo)

The Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a straight-game loss to Japan’s Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda to crash out of the China Open badminton tournament here on Thursday.

Satwik and Chirag, ranked 15th in the world, ran out of steam after a decent start against their fourth-seeded opponents and went down 19-21, 8-21 in the second-round match that lasted 33 minutes.

This is the second time Satwik and Chirag have lost to the combination of Kamura and Sonoda this year. They had lost to the world no.4 pair at the Japan Open in July.

Later on Thursday, the mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini Ponanappa, who stunned Indonesia’s world no.7 combination of Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti in the opening round, will take on Japan’s Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo.

In the singles events, fifth seed P V Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap and B.pc Sai Praneeth will also be in action.

Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy will take on the second seeded Japanese duo of Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi in the second round of the women’s doubles competition.