Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty elated to make Thailand Open final

The Indian badminton duo of Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy and Chirag Shetty stormed into the mens doubles final of the Thailand Open, becoming the first Indian pair to reach the final of a BWF Super 500 tournament.

Published : Aug 03, 2019 20:24 IST , HYDERABAD

Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy and Chirag Shetty in action during their Thailand Open semifinal win over South Korea's Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol.
Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy and Chirag Shetty in action during their Thailand Open semifinal win over South Korea's Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol.
lightbox-info

Satwiksairaj Ranikreddy and Chirag Shetty in action during their Thailand Open semifinal win over South Korea's Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol.

The Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty became the first Indian pair to enter the final of a BWF Super 500 tournament when they defeated World No. 19 Ko Sung Hyun and Shin Baek Cheol of Korea 22-20, 22-24, 21-9 in the Thailand Open semifinal on Saturday.

Talking after the win, Satwiksairaj  said: “I feel that both of us have become a lot more calmer as compared to before and that is the major improvement. The highlight of today’s match is obviously the last point because it was simply amazing to win a semifinal against Shin and Ko as they have been players we have looked up to in the past.”

RELATED| Thailand Open: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty enter final

The Indian team, ranked World No.16, trains at Gopi Chand Academy here.

“I feel even though we had two match-points in the second game which we failed to win, we were able to win the decider quite comfortably because we kept our calm. We were not eager to score a point, if we had a chance we went for it rather than rushing and committing a mistake,” he added.

For his part, Chirag Shetty also felt “pretty happy” with their performance. “Playing calm, staying positive helped us a lot,” he said, while adding: “We are confident on ourselves that we can do it tomorrow.”

Looking ahead to the final, where they will take on the third seeded Chinese duo of Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen, the duo said: “We won’t do anything different tomorrow, we're very excited for our first final and will give our best and make India proud.”

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment